Hot Blood
by GiraffeGirl
Summary: After the long hot spring of blood, nothing will be as it was before. AU Doctor Who x Torchwood fic. Sequel to Sad Songs Say So Much, but not necessary to have read that. Longer summary inside. Possible spoilers up to Impossible Planet.
1. Prologue

**Hot Blood **

_**A Sequel to Sad Songs Say So Much**_

_**Two years after the Doctor returned to be with Rose, they disappear without warning, leaving their daughter in Captain Jack's care. Now Jack must struggle to come to terms with things he never knew whilst trying to take care of seven-year-old Tala. **_

_**Meanwhile, during the hottest April ever recorded, someone - or something - is putting the planet in danger as ice-caps melt and the hospitals fill up with patients suffering from heatstroke. Why though, and what has it all got to do with a rejuvenated holiday camp on the outskirts of Cardiff?**_

**_At home, Gwen's trying to continue an ordinary life, but Torchwood continues its infiltration of her life with Rhys. Then when Rhys makes a suggestion, suddenly it's her home-life which threatens the job she loves. And Gwen must face one of the hardest choices of her life._**

_**The Doctor and Rose find themselves in a familiar place in the future, but all is not as it seems. As they try and make their way to the Controller of The Pleasure Dome, they face difficulties and separations, and both learn more than they ever wanted to know.**_

**_One thing's for sure: after the long hot spring of blood, nothing will be as it was before._**

_**

* * *

**_

**Prologue**

_Dear Mum,_

_If you're reading this I'm guessing it's because something happened and not because you're being nosey. The Doctor did pretty much tell you only to open this letter in an emergency. And I hate to think about you reading this because it means something's happened to us both. I wish I could promise you we'll be fine, but I know it wouldn't make any difference to you, you'd still worry yourself stupid, and I know why. You're never going to accept that I'm a big girl, are you? I'm still your little girl._

_I didn't really want to write this, but the Doctor said I had to, just in case. It seems crazy, it's been so long since I left you behind properly, just day trips here and there, and yet, for the first time, I'm actually preparing you for the worst. That's how mature I've got._

_I know it'll make no difference, but I'm going to say it anyway: don't worry. Not about us, if there's a way out, we'll find it. The Doctor's always been good at impossible. And if there isn't, then… well, everything has it's time. The important thing isn't us anymore. It's Tala._

_If something or someone has taken us, Tala's in danger. She is, after all, part-Time Lord, and whatever's got us… well, it won't take them long to find out about her. That's how these aliens work. Tala could be in danger as you read this letter, though we'll do all we can to keep her safe; we'll always have the sonic screwdriver!_

_But for now, there's only one thing you can do. Mum, I know you won't like it, but you have to give Tala away. Give her away to someone who can look after her properly, and maybe even help to find us, wherever we are. You've never liked this alien lifestyle, and I'll admit that sometimes, like now, it gets a bit awful. Okay, more than a bit. I've just put Tala to bed, and she looks so peaceful lying there, that I hate to think that I'm ever going to be taken away from her. But now's not the time to be sentimental. You have to get Tala to somewhere safe, she needs to be with people that understand what's going on._

_Call the phone number at the bottom of the page. Ask for Captain Jack Harkness. And tell him that Rose and the Doctor's daughter need him to come and save her._

_Love always,_

_Rose._


	2. An Ordinary Day

It was an ordinary day in Cardiff. People basked in the unexpected good weather so early in April. The sun shone down on the new Millennium Centre, the bronze panelling scattering beams across the pavement in front of it. Some teenage girls lounged around the water fountain, freckled limbs extended to try and catch as much of a tan as possible before they had to head home for dinner. Office workers took lazy extended lunches, reluctant to return to their dark dingy overheated offices. A group of tourists of various nationalities traipsed towards the waterfront, their tour guide, explaining in perky tones the history of that area of Cardiff.

Through the disorganised melee, strode a man. In a dated, yet strangely flattering blue wool overcoat, the tall man cut an odd figure amongst the scantily clad teenagers, and with his sense of purpose, he formed a stark contrast with the ambling city workers. Perhaps the strangest thing about him though, was the way no one seemed to notice him. He moved with deliberation, not once checking his stride or looking from left to right. And yet, when he stepped onto an innocuous looking paving stone and vanished from sight, no one so much as did a double take, least of all the pretty blonde girl sitting within inches of where he'd past. It was like the man was invisible.

If Captain Jack Harkness needed proof that he was corporeal, he didn't immediately get it as he touched down in the Hub. Hidden far below the lively Cardiff waterfront, Torchwood 3 was still surprisingly hot, without the joy of sunlight. Even the constantly running water down the fountain didn't help to lift the heavy air in the underground base, which had subdued the usually boisterous Torchwood team no end.

"What's happened to the air-con?" Jack announced his presence loudly, removing his overcoat and draping it carefully, almost lovingly over the nearest chair. "Hasn't Ianto fixed it yet?"

"He's working on it as we speak," Gwen Cooper, the newest Torchwood recruit, answered him, as she returned to her desk. "And you can forget leaving that lying around here, you're worse than Rhys sometimes," she added in reference to her boyfriend, picking the overcoat back up and half-throwing it at him. "Where've you been away?"

"Miss me?" Jack gave her a heart-breaking grin, which Gwen returned with a weak withering look, giving way to a hastily suppressed smile.

"No, we just wondered where you'd gone. You turned your phone off."

"First rule of Torchwood, never turn your phone off," Dr Owen Harper chipped in, sauntering over.

"First rule of Torchwood, what Jack says goes," Jack corrected him smoothly, rolling his shirt sleeves up. "I thought you guys would be able to handle anything that cropped up. I've only been gone half an hour, even you lot couldn't start World War Four in that time."

"World War Three."

Jack glanced at Gwen.

"You mean World War Three," she repeated.

He shrugged. "You'd be surprised. Now, what have I missed?"

"Well…" Owen paused for dramatic effect before continuing. "Ianto's been almost as AWOL as you for the past twenty-five minutes, supposedly fixing the air-con, but almost certainly re-catalouging something - do you think he'd like a stamp album for his birthday? - , meanwhile, I just beat Tosh's top score on Minesweeper-"

"Only the intermediate level!" Toshiko Sato, the pretty Chinese computer specialist interjected. "And on your seventy-first attempt."

"- Gwen has been avoiding her paperwork by hanging round my desk and offering sexual favours-"

"In your dreams!" Gwen scoffed, though Jack noticed with a small smile that she immediately made to straighten some of the scattered papers on her desk. Owen was at least half right then.

"- _And_ we're all rather hot," Owen concluded.

"Wonderful. All running like a well-oiled ship should then." Jack produced a plastic bag out of one his coat pockets. Gwen sometimes wondered if that coat was like Mary Poppins's bag, bigger on the inside; there was no other explanation for how he managed to cram so much into those pockets without creating awkward lumps and bumps where there shouldn't be. He dumped it on her desk. "There you go then, don't say I never bring you anything."

Owen pounced on it in a flash. "Ice lollies!" he exclaimed excitedly like a child. He ripped the wrapping off of one and licked it, sighing contentedly.

"God, you're easily pleased," Gwen remarked, taking one for herself, and handing one over to Toshiko.

"Luckily for you, darling." Owen gave her a salacious wink.

Gwen shuddered.

"See, doing their job already," Jack said glibly, as he sucked on one thoughtfully. "So nothing happened while I was gone? Nothing?"

"Oh, Ianto took a phone call for you," Toshiko remembered now, through a mouthful of ice. "He made a note of it and left it with Gwen."

"Oh right yeah." Gwen spluttered half-frozen ice lolly as she began dislodging all her recently re-piled paper. "It's here somewhere, I'm sure, just give me a second."

Jack regarded her fondly for a few seconds, as she scattered important documents all over the place, dripping raspberry flavoured ice all over the place. Gwen was so good at so many things, she'd been invaluable since she'd joined Torchwood, and furthermore, Jack didn't know what he'd do without her gap-toothed smile in his life anymore. Organisation wasn't exactly her strong point though, for all she complained about the sometimes slobbish behaviour of Rhys.

Jack turned his mobile earpiece back on. "Ianto, where are you?"

It crackled into life, and the fifth member of the Torchwood team's rolling Welsh vowels responded. "Oh, you're back, sir."

"I am, and the Hub is still quite steamy." Jack was unable to resist a grin and a teasing remark. "Of course, we could all just treat it as a sauna. Marvellous way to relax and lose weight."

"Huh, speak for yourself!" Gwen grunted, already nibbling on a biscuit having demolished her ice lolly.

"Any chance of the air-con any time today, Ianto?"

"I'm still working on it, sir. There seems to be something stuck in one of the vents, I need to take a closer look."

"Could you not just hit it really hard?" Owen suggested, absent-mindedly taking one of Gwen's biscuits and earning himself a slap on the wrist. "Ow!"

"I prefer to do things the old-fashioned way," Ianto replied, his flat tone not giving away whether he was joking or not. "Oh, Jack, has Gwen passed on the message?"

"Gwen has… otherwise misfiled the message," Jack informed him. "That's why I called you actually. Who was it?" He hoped it wasn't a double-glazing salesman again. That would make three in the last week.

"A woman, London accent. She sounded a bit upset."

"Doesn't exactly narrow it down, Ianto," Jack pointed out.

"She said her name was Jackie Tyler."

Jack shook his head, though somewhere in his head the name did ring a bell. "Nope, not getting anything. Owen, have you been giving out this number to women again so someone else can let them down for you?"

"I only did that once!" Owen protested.

"Twice and counting." Toshiko took a biscuit too.

"Oh, what, you don't hit her!" Owen exclaimed.

"That's because I like Tosh." Gwen gave him an innocent smile, before picking up yet another biscuit.

"She said she'd never met you, but that you used to know her daughter," Ianto continued relating the phone message, either oblivious to the bickering in the main room of the Hub, or so used to it by now that he was able to ignore it. "Rose Tyler?"

Jack froze, his ice lolly halfway to his mouth. Gwen felt it was fair to use the old cliché that the colour literally drained from his face and he went as white as a sheet. Owen took the opportunity whilst Gwen was distracted to acquire another biscuit.

"She said if you could call her back, ASAP, she'd be very grateful." Ianto paraphrased. In fact, Jackie Tyler hadn't been anywhere near as pleasant as that, only narrowly avoiding using several expletives, but that wasn't an essential part of the message. Ianto Jones prided himself on his efficiency as general support around the Hub, and relating phone messages was just one more way to prove his worth.

Jack finally answered, the confidence and light-heartedness gone from his voice. "Did she say what it was about?"

"She wouldn't tell me, said it had to be you."

Jack swallowed hard. "What's the number?"

"I left it on Gwen's desk."

"Like I said, _Gwen_ has misfiled the message." Jack gritted his teeth. There was no real point getting angry with Gwen; she couldn't have known he'd need it. On the other hand, her scattiness was starting to wear a bit thin; once an endearing and so very human trait, he was starting to wish she'd learn just a few organisational skills. "Any chance you can remember it, Ianto?"

There was a long pause as Ianto had a quick think. "It was a London number," he said, as helpfully as he could.

Jack sighed. "Yeah, okay, don't worry about it, Ianto, thanks." He ended the call and took a moment to gather his thoughts. Then he looked at the three members of his team in front of him. Gwen sat in her chair, swinging to and fro like a bored child, but her dark eyes fixed on him the whole time. They were all looking at him actually, even Owen.

"So?" Owen asked him now. "Who is this bird?"

The growl that came from Jack's throat wasn't entirely deliberate, but it felt necessary once it was out.

"Have you got nothing better to do than eavesdrop on other people's conversations?" Jack glared at them suddenly, much to their surprise. "You've all got work to be getting on with, so get on with it."

They scattered, and he noticed Gwen's shoulders shake a little. God, sometimes he hated having to be the big bad boss. He didn't believe in that divide and rule nonsense in cheap paperback copies of "how to be a successful people manager". Jack preferred to work as a team, each person bringing their strengths to the table and working it all out together. Ultimately though, someone had to be in charge to direct them when their concentration wandered. Paperwork wasn't the most exciting part of the job, but it had to be done. And Jack needed some time alone to psych himself up for this phone call.

* * *

Jack replaced the receiver and sat back in his chair. From his glass-walled office high up in the Torchwood Hub, he was able to see down across all the work stations. He could see where Toshiko was diligently getting on with her paperwork, all stacked in neat rows. He could imagine the perfect columns of figures on immaculate paper, not even slightly creased at the edges. Toshiko liked a sense of order, that was how her mind worked. 

He could see where Owen was half-heartedly scrawling odd words down on a sheet of paper, pausing between almost every word to shoot a barbed remark across to Gwen or Tosh, whichever he was trying to wind up now. Typically a doctor, Owen's handwriting was almost indecipherable and Jack wondered not for the first time why he bothered trying to make Owen do the paperwork. Jack threw it straight into a filing cabinet, not even trying to make sense of the loops and swirls that Dr Harper claimed constituted writing. It was all for the records of course, but Jack pitied anyone who would ever have to trawl through those autopsy reports.

And he could also see Gwen, writing slowly and deliberately, the very tip of her tongue no doubt poking out of her mouth in concentration. She was managing to ignore many of Owen's comments, only shooting him the occasional glower. Much as Jack loved watching Gwen, watching all of them in fact, he was never that keen on how she looked when she was doing paperwork; the spark of energy that had first attracted him to her never burned so dimly than when she was sitting at her desk, toiling away at these records.

There was a splutter which echoed around the Hub and then, finally, a blast of cold air gushed through the various vents in the building.

"About bloody time!" Owen exclaimed.

Jack watched as, minutes later, Ianto appeared from one of the tunnels which led down to the basement. They all burst into spontaneous applause, to which the Welshman took a few awkward bows. There they all were, his little team. Such a motley crew really, but over the last few months, since Gwen had been around, they'd become a tight-knit group, a community. A family.

The phone call had been brief. Jackie had answered after only one ring, as though she'd been sitting by the phone all day just waiting for the call back. She'd related what had happened, how Rose and the Doctor had gone missing, she didn't know where or how, but they had. No, they hadn't taken the TARDIS, it was still sitting outside where it had stood for the past three months, ever since they'd come back from wherever they'd been the last time, how was she expected to remember that? She hadn't wanted to call him, but Rose had insisted in a letter she'd left behind. No, she hadn't known she was going anywhere, she'd given it to her ages ago, just in case. The main point was that Jack had to come to London, now, _today_.

And collect Rose and the Doctor's daughter.

Even now, almost ten minutes after he'd put the receiver down, Jack still wasn't sure he'd heard her quite right. Their _daughter_. It seemed like some sort of sick joke, but the more he thought about it, the more he was convinced it wasn't. It was true. No one could make it up, it just was beyond the realm of the imagination. It wasn't supposed to happen, that much Jack knew. And he couldn't believe it of the Doctor somehow, that he and Rose… Well, he knew they were close, inseparable almost, but even so… Jack was liberal minded, sometimes to the point of excess, but really? He couldn't believe that big-eared, stupid-grinned man would ever have achieved good enough people skills to have achieved anything like that.

Then he remembered. All those records in the Torchwood archives, the written accounts and photographs and sketches and transcribed tapes. They'd all spoken of a man who called himself the Doctor, a man with dark brown hair and wild eyes. A skinny man, one who talked at a rate of knots, an _attractive_ man. The photos confirmed the written evidence. He wasn't the man Jack had kissed goodbye to up on the Gamestation. But he was the Doctor. And Jack suspected that in this body, the last Time Lord just might have a better chance with Rose.

They had a daughter. Jackie hadn't said much, hadn't said how old she was or what her name was. All he knew was that she existed, and that he had to go and get her, to take her away and protect her from… what? Jackie didn't know that either. The Doctor and Rose had disappeared, vanished into thin air without even the TARDIS's help. Leaving their daughter behind for Jack to take care of.

"Everything alright?" Ianto stepped into the office cautiously, eyeing up Jack, trying to gauge his mood. "Did you get through to Jackie Tyler?"

It took a second for Jack's mouth to engage. "Yes, thanks Ianto, all sorted."

Ianto nodded, his face in its typical grave expression. "Nothing bad?"

Jack didn't answer his question. Instead he stood up and began rolling down his shirt sleeves. "Well done on the air-con, by the way. Not quite a personal best, but pretty quick work all the same."

"Thank you." Ianto nodded. "Was that orange puddle on Gwen's desk meant for me?"

Jack remembered the forgotten ice lolly. "Oh yeah, sorry, Ianto, I completely forgot about it."

"Doesn't matter, sir. I'll make a cup of tea."

Jack smiled. "You British and your tea. It's eighty-five degrees outside!"

"Nothing quite like a cup of tea to cool you down," Ianto insisted. "Would you like one, sir?"

Jack looked out of his office into the Hub. "No, thanks, Ianto, I'm just on my way out actually."

"Oh?"

Jack considered telling Ianto all. He could even ask him to come along for the journey. Cardiff to London was a long way, even with Jack driving, and whilst Captain Jack Harkness was a brave, some even said stupid, man, he wasn't completely foolhardy; the way he was feeling right now, he wasn't sure he'd be able to drive. Ianto would be good company, only speaking when spoken to, perfectly at ease with utter silence. He didn't have all together bad taste in music either, which would make the journey a whole lot more bearable.

But as Jack looked down at the rest of his team, no longer lying across their desks in a state of exhaustion, though still not entirely keen on the task at hand, he knew that there was only one person he would even think of asking to come along with him.

* * *

Gwen had managed to lose herself enough in her paperwork to block out at least some of what was going on around. Thankfully, that included Owen's not-so-subtle innuendos. She still had expenses forms to fill in, detailing petrol costs for her own car and various things she'd bought as part of ongoing investigations. Those forms were so dull and ordinary it was like being back in the police force again, only if she was, she wouldn't have half the hassle she had these days. She looked back on her old job with a mixture of scorn and fondness. When she saw her old colleagues at the site of yet another mysterious death, she couldn't help feeling pity for them; they had no idea what lay beyond that police tape, no idea what was just out of their sight. She couldn't imagine being that ignorant anymore. No, it wasn't ignorance, she always corrected herself. It was _innocence_. Yet at the same time, she half-envied their simple little lives. One of her old colleagues, Jimmy Mitchell, had got married recently. Gwen had been invited, but had had to cancel at the last minute because of some alien encounter or other. It all seemed so easy for them; Gwen rarely managed a simple romantic quiet night in with Rhys these days without her phone bleeping insistently and her having to leave and meet the others in a disused warehouse in the dodgy end of town. 

The write ups of various interviews she'd conducted were more interesting. At least they were real, full of human emotions and life, instead of the neat but ultimately meaningless rows of figures. They transported her back to that precise moment when she'd held a tearful mother's hand and had to tell her gently that Richard wasn't coming home tonight, or any night. That Richard had been hit by a car, that he'd died on impact, he hadn't felt anything. Mostly lies, but they meant something, they saved the woman from things she couldn't understand.

So caught up in her work was she, that when a large heavy hand placed itself on her shoulder, she jumped. When she came to and realised whose hand it was, she shifted uneasily under it. Her white t-shirt was soaked through with sweat; not the most attractive side of her.

Jack was a weird one, she decided not for the first time. Since hearing that girl's name, Rose something, he'd turned unexpectedly frosty, the only thing in the whole of the Hub to dip below freezing for days. He'd disappeared up to his office and had been all but invisible for the last half an hour. Now he'd reappeared with no warning, his touch gentle but a heaviness in his shoulders and a determination in his eye. This was no apology for the way he'd snapped earlier.

"Gwen, I'm going out, fancy coming." He spoke lightly, but it wasn't an offer, it was an order.

Gwen stood up. "Instead of paperwork? What do you think?"

"Hey!" Owen yelled from his desk. "How come she gets to escape?"

Jack was already striding towards the paving slab, the shortcut to the street above. "Owen, you're in charge."

"Where are we going?" Gwen slipped her phone into her jeans pocket and picked her jacket up.

Jack didn't reply. That was so like him, he was always so enigmatic. It irritated Gwen beyond belief; whilst Owen more often than not drove her mad with his stream of consciousness style of talking, at least there was no guess work needed with him. With Jack, there were a thousand things she didn't understand about him, and the list was growing every day. They ranged in importance: for instance, she often wondered why he insisted on wearing long sleeved shirts and yet spent half his life rolling the sleeves up, showing off his strong forearms. Not that she was really complaining about that, she was just curious. Number one on her list though was a pretty major one: who was he? She'd heard all the team's theories, their ideas and fantastical thoughts. But none quite seemed adequate enough to match up to the man beside her now, close enough that she could feel his breath ruffling her hair as they ascended through the thick air of the Hub and came out at street level. It was still enough of a novelty for Gwen to experience the sensation of being invisible. Jack had explained about the strange properties of that particular spot around the base of the fountain; how something had once been there which had the ability to make people not see it, and something of its power had been left behind when it left. It sounded like any number of myths and legends Gwen had heard since she'd joined Torchwood, but there had been something in Jack's voice when he told her that made her think it was more than just a story to him: it was personal.

Now as he led the way across the road to where one of Torchwood's SUVs was parked, Gwen had to walk briskly to keep up.

"Here." Jack suddenly tossed the keys to her. "You drive."

Gwen looked from the keys to him. "Me? Seriously? Even after last time?"

Jack pulled a face. "I assume you've learnt the difference between reverse and first gear since then?"

Gwen blushed, remembering the horrifying crunch as she'd hit the wall. "I think so."

"Good. No problem then. I don't feel like driving today."

"You still haven't told me where we're going," Gwen reminded him, but Jack had already swung himself into the passenger seat.

Gwen got into the car. It was a bit of a treat to be allowed to drive; usually Jack had to wrestled to the floor to get him to prise his grip off the keys. Gwen didn't really mind, it was Owen who was most bothered. Even so, she wasn't going to miss this opportunity. She adjusted the mirrors, aware that Jack was sitting impatiently beside her, silently urging her to get going. She wouldn't be rushed though. Finally she turned to look at him.

"So?"

"London."

Gwen felt her mouth drop open. "London?"

"Yeah. Big city, about one hundred and fifty miles away, The Clash wrote a song about it." Jack began tapping out the bass line to London Calling.

"Yes, Jack, I know where London is!" Gwen said, still not quite believing what she was hearing.

"No problem then, is there?" Jack gave her a deadpan look.

Gwen didn't reply immediately, as she wrestled with the steering wheel to try and get the SUV out of the tight parking space Owen had wedged it into. He'd been showing off, as usual, and it took Gwen three attempts of jerky backwards and forwards movements to get it out onto the road. She glanced at the clock. It had just gone three o'clock. With a good run along the M4, something she knew was incredibly unlikely, they could just be in London at just after six. The more likely outcome would be they'd still be stuck in traffic in this blistering heat until about seven, and then she'd have to navigate through London, and then face the trek home. Assuming they were even coming back tonight.

"I was supposed to be going out for a meal with Rhys and his parents tonight," she said as she joined a steady flow of traffic across Cardiff and out the other side. In the stifling weather, windows were wound down, sun roofs were open, and the heavy thud of drum and bass music reverberated through the streets.

Jack didn't reply. He stared out the window, earning himself a half-shy, half-come-hither smile from a twenty-something blonde on the pavement. Stopping at some traffic lights, Gwen looked across at him. He barely even noticed the pedestrian's existence.

"Where in London? Why?" Gwen demanded more answers as she pulled off again. "Don't they have their own Torchwood? I thought Ianto came from there originally?"

Jack shifted in his seat. They had their own Torchwood alright, Torchwood One, an office-based, paper-pushing institution with a vast collection of alien artefacts, but no experience of aliens themselves. They were like the guards tourists flocked to see outside Buckingham Palace; clean and civilised and well-dressed, but ultimately having to defer to Jack's team, the real army, for any real help. Ianto had been transferred after a row with his then-girlfriend; Torchwood One didn't like to deal with tricky human emotions like that.

"Jack?" Gwen prompted him, as they passed the Cardiff Llanedeyrn Travelodge. He'd been silent for the past three or so miles.

"Yeah, they do," he replied finally.

"Then why are we going?"

Jack flipped the air vents in the car, sending half-cold air scattering in various directions.

"It's not a Torchwood thing." Gwen raised her eyebrows, and Jack cleared his throat. "It's a personal thing."

* * *

_**Next time: Daughter of Time**_

"_None of this is messing around, Gwen," he said softly. "This, this whole life, everything, everybody. None of it's a game. None of it's a trial run. This is it, Gwen, this is all you get. One chance." He gazed out the window, his blue eyes softening as he stared at the service station, still busy with people at this time of night. "All those people out there… they have no idea. They just go on their way, driving their cars, eating their burgers, buying their sweets. They've got no idea that it could all just end, just like _that_."

* * *

_

**So... thoughts would be much appreciated, and any questions you might have.**


	3. Daughter of Time

**Okay, I should probably just say here, this story is AU set post series 2 but Army of Ghosts/Doomsday never happened. Just over seven years have passed since Fear Her happened. It probably makes more sense if you read Sad Songs Say So Much but I'm not going to force you to do that, it's not imperative, just helpful in establishing timelines. Torchwood, despite the seven year gap, is set during Series 1 but no particular spoilers, mainly cause I haven't seen any of the episodes since they first aired so can't remember any.**

**Thanks for the reviews so far, hope this is an interesting enough 2nd (3rd) chapter.**

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* * *

**The drive had been long and tiring. As Gwen had predicted, the motorway had been jammed full of fed-up hot angry drivers, their hands never far from their horns though they knew it would make no difference. Gwen had ignored the irritation coming off all the other vehicles in waves and simply turned the radio up. 

Jack had whipped out a hand as fast as lightning and changed the station. "No way, I'm not listening to that."

"Why not?" Gwen gave him a teasing grin. "You've always struck me as a Katrina and the Waves fan."

Jack couldn't help smiling back. "Well, I've struck you wrong then," he concluded as he found a classical music station and settled back in his seat to the soothing sounds of Pachelbel's "Canon in D".

It was practically the first time he'd spoken since they'd left Cardiff, and Gwen took advantage of his sudden change of mood.

"Jack, where are we going?"

"London, I told you that."

"It may have escaped your notice, but London's a pretty big place," Gwen said sarcastically.

"The sat nav will kick in."

"Oh, Jack no! Not that bloody woman!" Gwen exclaimed. "It's useless, it wouldn't know its way out of a paper bag!"

"It's fixed, Tosh had a go with it, it's all up and running again now."

Gwen looked doubtful. "Well, if it directs me into the Thames, I'm blaming you.""Fair enough."

Gwen decided to try one last time. "Jack, what are we doing in London?"

But Jack wouldn't be drawn on it, and so they'd managed to get to this council estate, with the satellite navigation unit's help, all without Gwen having a clue why they'd ever left Cardiff. As she got out the car now, stretching her aching legs and trying to find some small breeze, she glanced at her watch. It was half-past seven. She was supposed to be meeting Rhys at the restaurant in half an hour. She knew she should have called earlier.

"I'm just going to call Rhys," she told Jack, pulling out her phone. Jack didn't reply, but he didn't tell her not to, so Gwen dialed his mobile number.

"Hey babe."

"Hey." Gwen bit her lip anxiously, hating letting him down again. Especially in front of his parents.

"I was just going to call you actually, do you know where my blue shirt is?"

"I think it's in the wash," Gwen replied automatically. "You wore it for Andy's stag-do last week, I haven't got round to putting it in yet."

"Oh yeah." She heard Rhys rifling through the wardrobe. "Well, I suppose red it'll have to be then. How are you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good. Are you going to be alright to get to the restaurant on time, or has some big emergency come up at work?" He was teasing, but the bitter undertones weren't lost on Gwen.

"Actually…" She took a deep breath before continuing. "Rhys, I don't think I'll be able to make it tonight."

"You don't think?"

She sighed. "Okay, I know. There's this… _thing_ come up and it's going to take all night."

"I thought you had tonight off?"

"Special ops doesn't really work like that," Gwen reminded him, as if she needed to. "I'm really sorry, babe, I did try and get out of it." Not that hard. "It's a bit tricky though."

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

"Rhys?"

"Yeah, doesn't matter, whatever. You can't help it."

"I am sorry."

"Yeah, me too." Rhys, usually so cheerful, sounded more than a little annoyed. "It doesn't matter, me and Mam and Dad will still go out, if that's all right?"

"Yeah, of course. Say hi to them for me."

"Sure. Well, take care."

"I will. Love you."

"Love you too."

Gwen hung up and let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. She felt bad, of course she did. This wasn't the first time she'd let Rhys down at the last minute, and despite any promises she made to herself now, she knew deep down that it was nowhere near the last time she'd do it. Rhys didn't deserve to be treated like this, he was a wonderful man, her rock. In the first few weeks after joining Torchwood, his arms were the only place that Gwen could properly relax and begin to forget the horrors of the day. But then even his arms couldn't banish the demons from the corners of her eyes. The hours had been getting longer, the job more demanding. And Gwen loved it, she loved the team and the adventures and the helping people. She loved Rhys and her family and watching the rugby with a pizza and a beer. But the two seemed increasingly less compatible.

Trying to shrug off the guilty feeling, Gwen turned to Jack now.

"You do take me to the nicest places, Jack Harkness," she teased, sounding more light-hearted than she felt. She looked around at the graffiti on the walls all around the council estate: Chewy woz ere. Ricky's a poof. Bad Wolf. Kids these days were certainly getting more obscure. "So why are here exactly?"

"Is Rhys alright?"

Gwen snorted. "Like you care."

Jack shot her a look. "Of course I care. Is he okay about you missing this meal?"

Gwen hesitated. She didn't know how Jack managed it, but one look from him always made her want to spill her heart out. It would be nice to share her problems with someone, someone who would understand the problems between balancing Torchwood life and a normal life. Not that Jack was really the right person for that; as far as Gwen knew, he had no life outside Torchwood. He'd never mentioned a flat or a house. For all anyone knew, he could live down in that dank dark basement office. Anytime he began talking about friends, he always broke off quickly, or changed the subject, or turned it into a joke. Torchwood was his life.

"Fine," Gwen lied smoothly, nodding. "It wasn't a big deal. Now, are you going to answer my question?"

Jack regarded her for a long time before smiling. "You're a hell of a cop, Gwen Cooper."

Gwen grinned. "Thank you. But compliments won't let you off the hook."

Jack turned away from her again, his disappearing into his pockets. He sauntered across the tarmaced court in front of a block of flats. Gwen followed after a moment's hesitation. It was strange; it was like he was looking for something, but Gwen was equally as sure that he'd never set foot on this estate in his life. Yet still he looked around him, not leaving any corner of the estate untouched. Then finally he stopped his ambling.

"Right. Up we go then." He banged the door to the stairwell open and began striding up the stairs, taking them two at a time without any effort. Gwen jogged alongside him, not asking any more questions as she tried to conserve energy for the journey.

Jack pushed through another door without any warning as he got to the floor he wanted. Gwen paused for a second to catch her breath; it had been a few days since their last big chase through Cardiff and already she was getting out of condition. She didn't know how Jack managed it. She'd heard the rumours about a gym down in one of the vaults of the Hub; maybe it was time she asked if they were true. Not before she caught up with Jack though.

"Jack, seriously, what's going on?" she called after him, as they hurried past various multi-coloured doors. "It's not funny anymore, Jack, you're always so vague. Well, I want answers. I've just seriously pissed my boyfriend and his parents off so I could drive you here and now you won't even tell me why!" She drew level with him as he stopped outside a house. "So?"

Jack nodded towards the door. "We're here." He knocked on the door.

"And where's here?" Gwen demanded, but Jack once again avoided having to answer her as the door opened.

A woman, Gwen would guess around her mid-forties, stood in the doorway. She had blonde hair scraped back off her face into a ponytail, and was wearing more make-up that Gwen felt was strictly necessary for half-seven on a Tuesday evening. Her low-cut top showed off a considerable cleavage, which Gwen had to drag her eyes away from more than once throughout the evening, and she had on tight stonewashed jeans. The main thing that hit Gwen about the woman though was the air of anxiety around her.

"Mrs Tyler?" Jack spoke. The woman nodded, and Jack broke into a smile. It was comforting, if not his usual mega-watt knock 'em dead grin. "I'm Captain Jack Harkness, this is Gwen Cooper."

Mrs Tyler gave them a quick look up and down before pulling the door wider open and stepping back. "Come in. You'll have to excuse the mess, I haven't had a lot of time to tidy up, been a bit busy."

"Of course." Jack led the way. Gwen followed, and she had to admit the flat was a bit untidy. There were children's toys scattered all over the place, and the kitchen just visible off the living room had plates piled high on the draining board.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Mrs Tyler looked between the two of them.

"I'm fine." Gwen shook her head, when Jack didn't respond.

"I'll put the kettle on anyway," Mrs Tyler decided. She headed into the kitchen and spent the next few minutes bustling around in there.

Gwen drew closer to Jack. "Jack?" she hissed. "Are you going to explain or am I going to have to beat it out of you?"

"Sackable offence, that, Gwen," Jack replied.

"Do you take sugar?"

"No, thanks, Mrs Tyler," Gwen called back.

"Call me Jackie, everyone does." Jackie returned with two cups of tea. "Have a seat, do you want some biscuits?"

"Jackie, we can't stop long." Jack put his cup of tea down without even tasting it. "You said they'd gone missing, how long has it been?"

"I left it a couple of days," Jackie admitted now, sitting down. Gwen instinctively sank down to sit next to her. "I thought they might just have gone off, they do that sometimes. Well, they used to, not since Tala was born, but they used to."

Jack nodded. "But they haven't?"

"Like I said, they haven't done that since Tala. Even _he's_ not that irresponsible." Jackie spoke disparagingly about someone, Gwen wasn't sure who. "So I guessed it was time to call you."

Jack nodded. "I came as soon as I could. Have you heard anything from them?"

"Rose left her phone behind." Jackie gestured to a mobile phone on the table behind her. "She never does that. I'm not happy about this," she added, suddenly throwing a glare at both Jack and Gwen. "I think she's crazy. And him. I think Tala would be much safer here, but who am I to argue?"

"I think you're doing the right thing," Jack insisted. "He knows what he's doing. This could all be over in a few days, Jackie, they could be back before we know it."

Jackie gave him a sad look. "Don't lie to me, Captain Harkness. We both know it won't be."

Jack didn't reply to that.

Jackie stood up. "She's just getting changed for bed, it's getting late. I thought she could sleep in the car on the way back." She led the way back along the hall they'd come down. Jack followed.

Gwen stayed behind in the living room. Nothing was any clearer now than it had been all afternoon. The tea was strong and sweet, even though Gwen had said no to sugar. It was clear that Jackie had her mind on other things than getting tea orders right. Gwen stood up and walked over to the mantelpiece. There were numerous photos all clamouring for attention. There was a picture of a pretty girl, blonde with dark eyes and pouting lips. She had a big grin on her face and a party hat on, her arms flung round a handsome young black boy, with an equally as big grin on his face. The next photo showed the same girl, older, holding a baby. A third photo showed the same girl older still, the signs of a few laughter lines just beginning to appear around her mouth. She was cuddling a little girl, with huge brown eyes and masses of blonde shiny hair. There was a man in this photo too, a thin dark-haired man with eyes which seemed slightly unearthly and an infectious grin.

Footsteps down the corridor made Gwen jump. She turned to face the doorway. She wasn't sure if Jackie would be impressed by having someone look at all her photos, going through her stuff while she was out of the room.

"Is this your daughter?" Gwen asked, hoping to avoid a confrontation. She didn't hear the answer though as, behind Jackie, came Jack, and in his arms he was holding the same little girl from the picture.

"Are you sure you don't have time for something to eat?" Jackie was asking now, looking even more anxious than before.

"I'm sorry, we've got to go." Jack shook his head, even as Gwen was thinking she wouldn't mind some dinner. Rhys and his parents would just be sitting down to eat by now; Gwen loved Italian food.

Jack nodded to Gwen. "Can you bring Tala's things?"

Gwen frowned. "What?"

"Gwen." Jack raised his eyebrows, and Gwen picked up the two small holdalls that Jackie held out to her, still with her eyes fixed on Jack and the little girl.

"Jackie, are you sure you don't want us to find you somewhere else to live?" Jack asked. "It wouldn't take us very long, we could find you a whole new house, a new name, everything. You just have to say."

Jackie gave Jack a fierce glare. "I've already lost my daughter and my grand-daughter. You're not taking my name away from me as well. And anyway, what would they want with me?" She reached out a hand and stroked the little girl's hair back off of her face. "Now, you be good, Tala, listen to what Captain Harkness has to tell you. Remember to wash behind your ears and don't wander off."

Jack smiled. "She'll be fine." Then he took a deep breath. "Right, we need to go. I'll be in touch, Jackie, and if you hear anything…"

"I'll let you know." Jackie nodded. As Jack headed down the passage to the front door she added, "Take care of her."

Gwen answered for him, with a smile. "We will." She wasn't sure how to take her leave of the other woman and stood awkwardly for a few seconds. "Well, goodbye, nice to meet you, Jackie."

"Gwen." Gwen turned back to look at Jackie. "Is he safe?"

"Jack?" Gwen thought the question over in her mind. There were a lot of words that could be used to describe Jack Harkness. Brave, fun, handsome, mad, sexy, clever, dashing, strange, mysterious, dangerous, exciting, as well as some terms coined by Owen which Gwen didn't want to repeat, even to herself. As yet, though, safe had never been one of the adjectives applied to him. She opened her mouth, unsure what was going to come out, when Jackie spoke again.

"Oh, daft question, wasn't it? Of course he's not safe." Jackie sighed. "Go on, you better get going, love. Take care."

"You too."

* * *

The little girl on the backseat was fast asleep by the time they hit the M4 again. She was buried underneath Jack's thick coat, one thumb in her mouth and clutching a grubby looking toy cat under her arm. She looked about seven or eight, Gwen guessed. She wasn't pretty in the traditional sense, she wasn't about to enter any cutest child contests. Her eyes were too big for one, and strangely dark against her fair skin and hair, and her mouth was too wide. But she was attractive, there was something about her that made you want to keep looking. Gwen had wisely kept her mouth shut until now, not wanting the girl to overhear what she had to say. Now she was ready to let rip. 

"So?"

Jack half-jumped, as though he'd forgotten Gwen was with him. Lost in his thoughts, Gwen supposed. He certainly seemed to have enough thoughts to keep him going through them for all of eternity. Right now though she wanted answers.

"So what?"

"Are you going to explain what's going on?" Gwen jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "Who's she?"

Jack continued gazing straight ahead of him, effortlessly overtaking a slow moving lorry. "Her name's Tala."

"I'd gathered that. But who is she?"

Jack pulled a weary face. "Not now, Gwen."

"Yes, now!" Gwen snapped, then lowered her voice as she saw Jack's eyes flicker to the rearview mirror to check Tala hadn't woken up. "Jack, you've been behaving oddly all day. I've come this far with you, I've kept my mouth shut all afternoon, I cancelled on Rhys for you. I think I deserve some answers."

Jack glanced across at her. Then, without warning, he signaled to move across the lanes of the motorway and headed along a slip road to a service station. "You're right," he said.

Gwen hadn't expected that, but she didn't complain. As they parked up, she could smell the fat-rich odours wafting across from the drive-thru MacDonalds and her stomach rumbled, reminding her that dinner had been unforthcoming and lunch had been a very long time ago. She hadn't eaten since those biscuits in the Hub this afternoon; that seemed another time ago now.

Jack cut the engine, and glanced over his shoulder to check on Tala. He smiled. "Dead to the world."

Gwen was unable to resist looking back at the sleeping child. "It's got a bit cold now. Good job you brought that coat."

"Always be prepared, see? Old Baden Powell had a point." Jack turned back to look out ahead of him. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel thoughtfully, then turned to Gwen. "Go on then. What do you want to know?"

Gwen should have known he wouldn't just open up and tell the whole truth to her. "Tala. She's Jackie's grand-daughter, right?"

Jack nodded.

"And her mum, that's this Rose?"

Another nod.

"Is she yours?"

"No."

"You don't seem shocked I asked."

"I'm pretty unshockable."

"You seemed pretty shocked when you heard Rose's name." Gwen realised she'd hit upon something, a way into this conversation, as a nerve tightened almost imperceptibly in Jack's jaw. Most people wouldn't have noticed it; it scared Gwen that she did. It was the kind of thing only people who knew each other well would notice, people who'd known each other years. Couples. Hastily, Gwen pushed on. "Who is she, Jack? Why has she given you her daughter to look after? Where's she gone?"

"Is there a particular order you want me to answer them in?" Jack answered flippantly.

"Do you ever stop messing around?" Gwen asked in wonder.

Jack turned to face her, and she saw a look in his face she'd only seen a few times before in her life, always on him. It spoke a thousand words, all just out of reach and none of them quite managing to describe it. He looked both hollow and solid, both empty and full. It told of unimaginable joy and unthinkable despair. It was like all the thoughts and feelings in the world condensed into one look.

"None of this is messing around, Gwen," he said softly. "This, this whole life, everything, everybody. None of it's a _game_. None of it's a trial run. This is it, Gwen, this is all you get. One chance." He gazed out the window, his blue eyes softening as he stared at the service station, still busy with people at this time of night. "All those people out there… they have no idea. They just go on their way, driving their cars, eating their burgers, buying their sweets. They've got no idea that it could all just end, just like _that_." He snapped his fingers.

Gwen followed his gaze. "People know they can't live forever," she pointed out.

"But do they?" Jack turned to look at her. "Do they really? How often do they think about it, think that today could be their last day? All the things they leave unsaid, all the things they don't do… they don't ever believe it'll happen to them."

Gwen watched as a family returned to their car. The mother was carrying a car seat, its inhabitant firmly tucked up against the now distinctly cooler breeze. The father was carrying a little boy, his blonde hair glowing as they passed under the floodlights in the car park. "I guess people don't want to think about it."

"And that's what's so wonderful about them. That they know in the back of their minds that ultimately, they're just a grain of sand, a millisecond in time, and yet the things they do…" Jack sounded in awe, and Gwen was taken along for the ride. He was so right. The things she'd seen since joining Torchwood, the aliens who she'd been involved with, the planets she'd heard about. They dwarfed her little human life on this insignificant little planet; time kept marching on. And yet she kept living, she kept fighting, she kept loving, just like everyone.

"And that's who Rose Tyler is," Jack said after a long pause. Gwen waited for him to say more, but in the next second, he'd slipped the key back into the ignition and started the engine. "It's still early. We might get you home for dessert."

* * *

As they re-entered Cardiff at ten-forty-five, Jack supposed Gwen wasn't going to make it to the restaurant in time for a treacle sponge or whatever it was she liked. She'd fallen asleep some fifty minutes ago, her head resting against the passenger seat window, her face illuminated by the headlamps of oncoming cars. With two slumbering passengers, Jack found himself delving further and further into his own thoughts for company. Even whilst Gwen had been awake, there hadn't been much conversation, as she silently sulked that he hadn't shared the real story with her. No, not sulked, he thought, looking across at her again as she let out a whisper of a snore. Gwen didn't do sulking. Not like Owen, that guy could sulk for England. Or Wales, depending who he aligned himself with that day; it usually depended on who'd won at the rugby. Gwen didn't do that. She wasn't being nosey, Jack knew that much. Gwen was never just curious for curious sake. Well, apart from the way she'd stumbled into Torchwood in the first place. But about people, it wasn't malicious gossip she was after. She cared. She genuinely cared and wanted to understand just why Jack had set off across the country this afternoon to go and fetch an old friend's child that he'd never seen. An old friend who he never spoke about, didn't have a photo of, never once even referenced her name in a conversation. She was right; she did deserve answers. Only Jack wasn't ready to give them. 

He glanced in the rear view mirror at Tala, her thumb still in her mouth. His first thought on seeing her had been how like Rose she was. He felt sure that if he hadn't been told who her mother was, he'd have known instantly anyway. It wasn't just her blonde hair and slightly heavy jaw which meant she'd never be conventionally pretty. It was something in the way she held herself, the way she looked from Jackie to Jack and how her face somehow registered recognition. Even the way she slept, curled in a ball, reminded Jack of Rose. But those eyes… They were darker than Rose's and deeper. Despite the different colour, Jack knew those eyes. They were her daddy's.

She looked like a normal child, which would have scared Jack enough. He'd faced so much, both since he'd been a part of Torchwood and before then. Aliens from far flung planets and times and human evil closer to home. This, though, this was something else. Children. Jack had no idea where to start. And Tala was no ordinary child. She was Rose's daughter. She was the Doctor's daughter. She was part Time Lord.

And that just made it more complicated.

* * *

_**Next time: Normality**_

_OWEN VS WEEVIL. WHO WINS? YOU DECIDE. FIVE MINUTES. JACK_


	4. Into Action

**Faster update than last time, mainly because I just finished writing Chapter 11 and am very proud of myself lol. I was going to leave it about a thousand words ago until I realised that very little had happened in that chapter. I've managed to introduce a new character now and I'm pretty chuffed.**

**I promised myself I wouldn't do this, but hell, I'm desperate... if you want to tell me anything about this story, hit the review button. I've enabled anonymous reviewing now so there's no excuses really! Well, there is, I sometimes have nothing to say in reviews, but if you have any reaction at all, hit it! Too much Gwen? Not enough Jack? Badly written character? Boring storyline? Whatever, let me know!**

**Thanks to KarasuK, HarryWho Fanatic, Innogen, Emela and gaiafreedom21 who have already reviewed and made me smile like a good fan-girl should when the Doctor looks sad/hugs Rose or Martha, or Jack makes some sort of sexual innuendo, or tells Gwen she's brilliant.**

**

* * *

**Owen scrawled a final signature on the bottom of his last autopsy report with more flourish than was strictly needed. When he'd first qualified as a doctor, he'd spent more time than he should have practicing his signature. One thing that had always disappointed him had been the distinct lack of exciting letters in his name. There was nothing he could put any personality into, nothing he could turn into a dashing swoop or an intriguing loop. The most he could manage were a few scrawled lines underneath his name, which Toshiko had all but ruined for him when she informed it that showed he was making up for something he lacked. He still wasn't entirely sure she was being completely truthful there; it was news to him if she'd studied graphology alongside all the other subjects she seemed to have a near-expert grip on. Even so, when he wrote that final signature, he limited himself to just the one line. 

"And finished!" He sat back in his chair triumphantly and looked around. He'd expected to feel more elated at having worked his way through the pile of hastily thrown together notes which, when all put together, formed some pretty interesting autopsy reports. It had been a hectic few weeks up until the last few days, and this downtime had given them all a chance to update their records. Instead though, after the initial joy (he was, after all, the first to finish today), he felt a sense of loss. There was nothing else to do.

Toshiko looked up from her computer. "Congratulations!" She gave him a wide beam, and he could tell she really meant it. "First to finish today, well done!"

Owen stood up, collecting his paper-clipped reports together. "Thanks." Toshiko almost immediately went back to her own work though, her brow furrowed slightly as she began trying to import particular data readings from one programme to another. Even Owen hadn't the heart to distract her when she was doing something that was obviously such a challenge even for someone as clever as her. He took all the reports and headed up to Jack's office instead.

Ianto was collecting together a whole pile of mugs scattered around Jack's office. Some looked like they'd been their quite a while. Gwen was right, Jack _was_ a bit untidy, even by Owen's standards. At least Owen had been brought up to always take his dirty cups and plates to the kitchen. Granted, he didn't usually wash them up, but the thought was there.

"That air-con's gone off a bit, hasn't it?" Owen asked, as he found a small empty patch of desk to lodge his reports on. The rest of Jack's desk was covered in scraps of paper, a very suspect looking banana which had been there as long as Owen could remember, a strange looking purple rock and what looked like a military hat in the same colour blue as Jack's beloved overcoat. Their leader certainly had an eclectic taste in décor.

"Or maybe it's getting hotter," Ianto replied, raising a very valid point, and one Owen hadn't considered.

"I guess." Owen stood in the office for a moment, looking around. He felt awkward; he wasn't often called into Jack's inner sanctum for a heart to heart. Not like Gwen, who seemed to think nothing of sitting on his desk for whole half hours at a time, talking things over with him. Even Toshiko, usually so keen to get back to her desk and get on with some work, even she could relax for a few minutes in Jack's company. Owen, though, associated this office with getting called in, usually for a bollocking. Even with Jack gone, Owen felt uneasy. And yet still he didn't go.

Ianto glanced up from where he was reaching in between two filing cabinets for a mug. "Is there something you want, Owen?"

Owen caught himself. "What? Oh no, I was just wondering…" Think of something, quick. "Do you know where Jack's gone?"

Ianto didn't reply, and Owen knew that was because he didn't know either, but didn't want to admit it. He let that go; he'd usually tease the other man mercilessly about it, about how Jack treated him like a lap dog and then dumped him when something better came along. Owen usually justified such cruelty by reasoning that, whatever anyone else said, it was true. Ianto would do anything for Jack, and Jack knew it, and used it to his advantage.

He left the office without another word and headed back down to the main floor of the Hub. God, he hated days like today. When he was stuck filling in autopsy reports and hanging round, only just stopping himself from doing something as banal as _tidying his desk out_, Owen felt he might as well be back working as a real doctor for the NHS. At least he'd have more normal hours and there'd be hot nurses around who were up for anything so long as they got a free fancy meal and a spin in a fast car out of it. He might even manage a few scheduled days off.

Mind you, Torchwood wasn't all bad. Especially since Gwen had joined. Something about the energy and excitement she brought into work with her each day had affected every single member of the team, even the usually reserved Ianto. Owen knew for certain that, if she were around this afternoon, he wouldn't be feeling half as bored and restless. Winding Gwen up was one of his favourite past-times. Toshiko was hardly fair game to be teased, she always seemed so open to criticism and child-like in a way, though, Owen reasoned, like a child-genius. And Ianto… well, Owen hated admitting it, but only Jack was truly able to make him squirm. Gwen though… she could give as good as she got, and anyway, Owen wasn't doing it because he disliked her. Far from it.

She was another hoarder, just like Jack, but the things on her desk were more normal, which, conversely, only seemed more alien down in this setting. The photos of her and Rhys on holiday, a print out of a humorous e-mail, a leaflet she'd obviously been given on the way to work this morning advertising a new bar opening up nearby and that half-demolished packet of biscuits; they belonged on a normal desk in a normal office, not down here. At the same time, Owen was glad they were here. Normality had been something sadly lacking in Torchwood until Gwen came along.

Even her desk wasn't immune from the craziness of alien hunting life, though. Alongside all the paperwork she'd had to fill in, half-finished and discarded in her hurry to join Jack on his latest mission, there was the latest piece of tech they'd picked up only a fortnight ago. It had been found when they demolished a local swimming pool, buried amongst the foundations. They'd been going to throw it away with everything else, but then they'd dug a bit deeper and found it was being held by a skeleton. Naturally, that had held the whole thing up a bit. Torchwood had swept in and surveyed the area, and found nothing suspicious, nothing even slightly unusual, apart from this small, seemingly harmless little orange ball. It was shaped like a paperweight and wasn't much bigger than one. It wasn't made exactly of glass, Toshiko had given it a proper name, but Owen forgot. Essentially, it was an alien element that had all the same properties of glass but wasn't glass. Within this transparent outer shell, there was what looked like a thick orangey yellow liquid, like that found in lava lamps. It even moved in the same way. Gwen had whooped with delight when she saw it.

"Awww, I've always wanted one of these!"

They'd run endless tests on it, looking for any small clue to denote what it was or where it came from. Nothing. As far as they could tell, it was just decorative, a lovely alien knick-knack, nice to look at but with no other function.

"Brilliant. So can I keep it?" Gwen had asked, looking eagerly towards Jack.

That had made Owen laugh. Jack, who usually insisted on any alien tech, even the ones that without a doubt were nothing more exciting than a space-age shovel, was locked away and catalogued, safe from prying human eyes and fingers, had shrugged.

"It's yours if you want it."

It had made Gwen's week, and even now, she had it proudly displayed on her desk. Owen picked it up now and looked at it. He had to admit, it was very pretty, and the way the liquid moved inside it was very relaxing, but he couldn't help thinking that it had all been a big fuss over nothing. The work on demolishing the swimming pool had been held up for five days whilst they checked to make sure there was nothing else down there, no alien reason that the poor man holding the paperweight had died. All a big waste of time; they hadn't even got to have a car chase, and Owen loved car chases.

A telephone rang. Toshiko glanced up at Owen, who looked back at her. She looked away first: result.

The ringing stopped and they looked up to Jack's office to see Ianto take the call. They couldn't hear what he was saying; they couldn't even lip-read as he turned his back. Just like Jack always did when he took a call in his office.

"Who does he think he is?" Owen muttered, throwing the paperweight in the air and catching it again.

"If you drop that, Gwen'll kill you," Toshiko remarked. "It's not indestructible."

"Glass usually isn't," Owen replied, throwing it again.

"It's not glass!" Toshiko groaned. "It's-"

"Owen, there've found a body in Splot, sounds like a Weevil attack," Ianto interrupted before Toshiko could give an explanation of exactly what the paperweight was made up of for the fifteenth time. "That was the police, thought we ought to come and take a look."

Thank God. Owen had thought he'd have to spend the rest of the day aimlessly wandering around. Now he could do something productive. And Jack wasn't here either, meaning he was in charge.

"Right, let's go then!" Owen put the paperweight down with a thud and drew himself up to his full height, which was still sadly lacking compared to Jack. "Ianto, get the Weevil spray and the restraints. Tosh, better bring your laptop, just in case we need to track it. I'll meet you outside in five minutes."

Finally, something was happening today.

* * *

Gwen slipped her key into the lock on her front door carefully. It was past midnight and Jack had just dropped her off outside her apartment block. She'd left the car without saying goodnight, just needing to get away from Jack and Torchwood for today. All she wanted was to have some toast and then slip into bed with Rhys and fall asleep, hopefully for a long time. It had all been pretty quiet on the alien front lately, she hoped it would continue to be so. 

The television was still on in the living room as she went in. A late night horror film, with zombies and buckets of blood. The noise coming from the sofa sounded pretty otherwordly too. Gwen looked from the demolished six-pack of Budweiser on the table to the snoring body stretched out on the sofa, and realised that Rhys obviously hadn't had a great night either. Dinner with his parents always made him anxious, and she knew her absence wouldn't have helped. He didn't usually drink that much on his own.

She turned down the sound on the TV, and then went into the kitchen, wondering what she could have to eat. The fridge was virtually empty apart from an ancient jar of jam and what had once been a cucumber and now was undecided over what it wanted to be. She looked through the cupboards. God, they really needed to do some shopping, this was pathetic. They had plenty of packets of Honey Nut Loops, which she wasn't even aware Rhys was that keen on, and no end of baked beans. Real food though had managed to bypass their flat this week, leaving only a slightly stale loaf of bread. Gwen pulled two slices out, turned them over to check for mould, and then, satisfied, put them into the toaster.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket. Gwen closed her eyes, wondering, if she ignored it, if whoever it was would go away. No such luck. Less than a minute later, another message flashed up on the screen. Gwen pressed open, making one final plea for it to be a drunken text off a friend.

OWEN VS WEEVIL. WHO WINS? YOU DECIDE. FIVE MINUTES. JACK

Gwen rolled her eyes. "And he reckons he doesn't watch Big Brother," she muttered, as she opened the second message.

OWEN VS JACK. NO CONTEST. GET YOUR ASS DOWNSTAIRS. JACK

As she read it, her phone sprang into life. She hit answer quickly, glancing over to see if it had disturbed Rhys, but it would take more than a novelty ring tone to wake him up tonight.

"Gwen? Where are you, get out here!"

"There's no need to shout, Jack," Gwen replied, through gritted teeth. "I thought I might actually get some sleep tonight. Novel idea, I know, but then, I'm full of them."

"Gwen, come on." Jack's voice changed from the angry tone to a more level one. Not apologetic, he wasn't in any mood for apologies, but Gwen could sense he felt slightly bad about the way he'd just spoken to her. "You can sleep when you're dead. Right now, I need you."

Gwen sighed heavily. "Manipulate bastard. I'll be down in two."

"Make it one and I'll be forever grateful."

"I'd settle for sleep and go without your gratitude, Jack Harkness," Gwen replied sharply, and ended the call. It had been a poor comeback, seeing as he'd got his way. Just like he always did eventually. He knew exactly how to play her, and she let him.

She picked her bag up from where she'd dumped it as she'd walked in the door. She looked back at Rhys again, wondering if she should leave a note. What good would it do? She'd said she'd probably be out all night, it wasn't as though he'd worry when he woke up. She might even make it back home before he did. Leaving him a note would just complicate things. She nodded to herself and walked out the front door.

Jack had left the engine running and Gwen slid in without saying anything.

"About time, I was about to go without you." Jack shoved it into gear and pulled away, surprisingly smoothly for him.

"Yeah, right, like you'd go without me," Gwen replied, leaning against the door and rested her head on her hand. "Like I'd ever be that lucky."

Jack glanced across as he slipped into second. "You look tired."

"Well at the risk of sounding like an American teenager, duh."

Jack smiled. "You could always crash out like Tala."

Gwen looked at him suddenly, as his eyes looked into the rearview mirror. She turned round and saw the girl still asleep on the backseat.

"Jack!" Gwen looked back at him. "Are you insane? What's she still doing here?"

"What else was I meant to do with her?"

"I don't know, leave her with Ianto-"

"He's out with _Harper._" Jack virtually spat out Owen's surname out.

"Well, then, you should have left with another friend or something…" Gwen trailed off as she remembered her thoughts earlier that day; she doubted Jack had any friends outside of Torchwood who could look after Tala for him. "I don't know, but you can't bring a seven-year-old on a Torchwood thing!"

"She'll be fine, I'll just leave her in the car and lock it."

Gwen looked across at him in disbelief. "Jack, have you ever looked after a child before?"

He grinned suddenly. "God, no! But how hard can it be?"

Gwen decided that was something Jack had better find out for himself. "Anyway, why are you dragging me away from my nice warm bed this time? What's Owen done? And where does a Weevil come into it? And just for the record, I think Owen would put up a pretty good fight."

Jack replied with a grunt, as he overtook a particularly slow Ford Focus, mounting the kerb with two wheels. Gwen grabbed hold of the dashboard and tried to right herself. She looked back to see Tala, still peacefully asleep. Maybe Jack was right; maybe this would be okay.

"Ianto logged a call in at five o'clock. They found a body down in Splott, suspicious wounds." Jack slammed his foot down as they reached an open stretch of road. "They headed out to check it out."

"Weevil?"

"Yep. Then, nothing. No calls, no nothing from them. Until just after I'd dropped you off, when I suddenly get this," Jack let go of the steering wheel to feel in his coat pocket for his phone.

"Jack!" Gwen shrieked.

"Relax!" Jack shoved the phone into her hands and resumed some form of safe driving. "First message."

Gwen read it. "You think they're in some sort of trouble?"

"I assuming even Owen knows enough morse code to realize what SOS stands for." Jack nodded. "I tried calling them all, but, helpfully, they've all stopped answering."

"Or something's stopped them answering," Gwen suggested. She looked at Tala again. "Jack, really, maybe Tala shouldn't be here-"

"Try calling them again." Jack cut across her. "And if you get through, tell Owen if he's not scared already, he should be."

* * *

_**Next time: Shocks**_

"_No doors." The Doctor frowned and looked around again, double-checking. He hadn't been wrong. There wasn't an opening of any sort in any of the walls. He looked up and down. Nothing._

"_Then how did we get in here?" Rose sounded both curious and a little scared._

"_That, Rose, is not the question. The question is how do we get out?" The Doctor turned things over in his mind. There were no doors. There was always the possibility of them having been teleported in of course, but he didn't feel like that had happened. He prided himself on knowing when he'd been dissolved into tiny pieces and reassembled in another place. There had to be another way._


	5. Shocks

**Thanks for the reviews! Another update because I've had a bad day lol. Exam at 5.30 in the evening... not good. Plus, I wanted to kick off the Rose/Doctor adventure before people started wondering where they'd gone. It's sort of alternate chapters now I think, one Doctor/Rose, one Torchwood.**

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* * *

**Cold floor. As he came to, the Doctor reached out with a hand to feel cold hard floor underneath him. It wasn't a particularly clean floor, he realised, sitting up gingerly to get his nose out of the dust and dirt covering it. He quickly checked himself over, making sure that everything was in working order. He stood up and looked around. Not that there was anything to see. He was in almost pitch darkness, he could just see enough to make out the shape of his hands in front of him. In cases like this, he had a simple rule he always followed; if you can't see and you don't know where you are, you stay still. 

Then he remembered.

"Rose?" His voice was weak at first wavering, questioning the air around him. Then, stronger, "Rose? Rose, are you here?" No reply. He felt both his hearts begin to race. The last thing he remembered before waking up here was losing a grip on her hand, her fingers slipping through his. "Rose, if you're here, say something, make a noise, anything." Maybe she was hurt and couldn't reply. Maybe she was still unconscious, he sometimes forgot that she didn't have the bounce-backability that he did have. Or maybe she just wasn't here. That was something he wasn't willing to face just yet, something he didn't want to have to contemplate until he'd exhausted all other possibilities. "Rose!"

"Doctor?" It just the merest whisper, barely a sound at all, but his ears caught it.

"Rose?"

"Doctor!" She gave a breath of relief. "Thank God!"

"Where are you?"

"I don't know, I can't see anything." He heard her move. From the change in her voice, he could tell she was standing up. "It could be anywhere. Where are you?"

"Sounds like a pretty good description," the Doctor agreed. "Can you remember what happened?"

"It's all a bit… vague," Rose admitted. "What's taken us?"

"Oh, now come on, Rose, we don't know anything's taken us yet, don't jump to conclusions-"

"Doctor."

"Oh alright." He sighed. "I don't know." He patted his hands down the front of his jacket. "But whatever it is, they don't know enough to take the sonic screwdriver off me." He pulled the small device out of his pocket.

"So you're going to what, blast us out?" Rose sounded doubtful, knowing what she did about the sonic screwdriver.

"Nope."

"Then what are you doing?"

"Having a look around." The Doctor flicked the switch and a pinpoint of light shone around where he was. "Setting three-five-nine: torch."

"Is there anything that it doesn't do?"

"It's never been so good at flat-packs actually," the Doctor admitted as he looked round. The narrow light didn't show him much, but he could see enough. He was in a small box-shaped room, only about five foot in each direction; there wouldn't be room for a fully-grown adult human male to lie down straight in. The walls were sheer and stretched right up to a high ceiling.

"What can you see?" Rose's disembodied voice floated through from one of the walls. "I can't see any light."

"You're not in the same room as me." He tried to shrug off the regretful feeling. There was a simple solution; if Rose wasn't with him, he'd just have to get to her. "I'm in some sort of room… a cell."

"A prison?"

"Sort of." The Doctor looked around again. "That's interesting."

"What is?"

"No doors." The Doctor frowned and looked around again, double-checking. He hadn't been wrong. There wasn't an opening of any sort in any of the walls. He looked up and down. Nothing.

"Then how did we get in here?" Rose sounded both curious and a little scared.

"That, Rose, is not the question. The question is how do we get out?" The Doctor turned things over in his mind. There were no doors. There was always the possibility of them having been teleported in of course, but he didn't feel like that had happened. He prided himself on knowing when he'd been dissolved into tiny pieces and reassembled in another place. There had to be another way.

"Well?"

"Well what?" He switched settings on the sonic screwdriver and ran a beam over the walls.

"What's the answer?"

"I'm working on it." He frowned as the sonic screwdriver registered… nothing. It didn't detect anything at all, as though… as though there was nothing solid there. As though whatever the walls were made of, it wasn't anything that couldn't be moved through.

"What are you doing?" Rose asked again. She sounded increasingly anxious. "You are still there, aren't you?"

"Of course I am. I wouldn't leave you. I'm just checking something out." He took a deep breath and then reached out to touch the wall. "Ow!"

"What is it? What's happened?"

The tingling sensation in his fingers stopped almost instantly. He did it again, and this time there was a loud crackle and the same burst of energy, but nothing that painful. It was just a shock.

"Oh genius!" He exclaimed excitedly. "That is _brilliant_!"

"Doctor?"

"Really, wonderful!" He jumped on the spot, unable to contain the elation in his body. "So simple!"

"Doctor!"

"It's electricity, Rose! Static electricity! That's all these walls are made of, just good old plain static electricity!"

"What? Like the shocks you get off a tap?"

"Or a car door or anything metal," the Doctor agreed. "There's some sort of shield too, a projection of an image to make it look like they're real walls."

"But if it's just static electricity… Does that mean…?"

"We can get out. We just step straight through."

"Is it really that simple though?" Rose questioned, her voice skeptical. "I mean, if they wanted to keep us locked up, would it really be that simple?"

"One way to find out." The Doctor collected his thoughts and then, swiftly and smoothly, stepped through the wall. He heard the crackles and spitting noises, and felt a million small jolts all over his body. But he was through and on the other side.

"Doctor?"

The Doctor looked to his left and could now see Rose in the cell next to his, looking confused and anxious. One of his favourite expressions on her face. He loved them all of course, but when she turned that face on him, the one that told him she cared what happened to him, if he lived or died, if he stayed or went… that held a special charm for him.

"It worked, Rose, I'm out. I can see you."

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, 'course I am. Rubber soles and natural fabrics… static electricity's arch nemesis." He looked her up and down now, a strange voyeuristic sensation sweeping over him as he remembered she couldn't see him doing this. Rose in her natural state, looking around like a lost child. "You might want to take your jacket off. All that polyester won't help things much."

Rose unzipped the red jacket quickly and, as an experiment, threw it through the wall. Sparks flew off it as it passed through the static field and then it landed on the other side.

"That looks promising," she said sarcastically. "Are you sure I'm not going to get fried or something?"

"Certain. Honestly, just step through." The Doctor picked up her jacket and winced as a shock came off it. "Is there a reason you chucked this through, by the way?"

"It might be cold, wherever we are. Where are we anyway? What can you see?"

For the first time, the Doctor appreciated that there was more in his immediate surroundings than the cell he'd come from and the one Rose was still in. In fact, there were more of the same sort of cells stretching away on either side of theirs, all the same size. The area he was in now, some sort of corridor, was dimly lit and, he could see doors at either end, heavy metal doors. Clearly this wasn't the Land of No Doors. That was a shame, it would have narrowed things down a whole lot.

"It's some sort of prison, I think," he replied, moving a few paces away to look into the next cell. What he saw in there made him start and move onto the next, and the next and the next.

"A prison? You mean, we're prisoners?" Rose was still trying to build up the courage to step through the static field.

The Doctor looked behind him and saw an identical row of cells, with equally as shocking sights in them. "No. It's a museum."

"Like Van Statten's?" Rose put her head on one side, and unconsciously looked directly at the Doctor, frowning. Funny the things people still do even when they can't see the person they're talking to, the Doctor mused in some part of his mind. It had always amused him to see Jackie on the phone, using hand gestures, frowning and smiling, even though the person she was talking to (usually Bev who seemed to have as little to occupy her during the day as Jackie herself did) had no chance of picking up on those non-verbal signals. That was part of the beauty of humans.

"No." The Doctor looked round grimly, as Rose finally found the bottle to step through, amidst crackles far louder than those that accompanied his own step out of his cell. He swallowed hard before continuing. "It's a zoo."

Rose tripped as she came out into the hazy light of the corridor, and the Doctor moved to break her fall. He allowed himself a second to hold her tight, savouring the delight of having her back beside him again. Every time he found himself without her, he always vowed when he found her again that he'd appreciate her presence that much more this time. Of course, after the initial elation and hugs, he usually forgot, but he remembered now. He was reminded again how much he loved her.

"You alright?" he asked, breathing in the warm comforting scent of her.

"Yeah, fine." Rose nodded, grinning up at him. "Your hair looks awful."

He ran a hand over his unruly brown hair, made even more rebellious by the electricity. "You can talk," he teased smoothing down her now slightly static blonde hair.

Rose turned to look around. "My God, you weren't joking!" she exclaimed, breaking away from his hug to move towards the cell next door to her own. Inside, half-curled on the floor, was a humanoid cat, like the nuns they'd met on New Earth. He was asleep, dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt. Rose wasn't sure which was most disturbing; the so very human clothes or the fact that he was locked up.

"What is this place?" she asked, as she moved to the next cell. What she saw there made her gasp and crouch down on the floor. Inside the cage (she was finding it hard to think of it as anything else) a great green creature, who would have been twice as tall as a human standing up, was sitting in the middle of the floor, hunched over. At the end of a long neck, it had a strange, almost baby-like face. In its lap, lay an almost identical min-version of the creature. "Doctor…"

"I know." He moved to stand behind her.

"But look!" She looked up at him and back to the creature, unable to say much more for a second as her words suddenly got choked in her throat.

"I can see, Rose. That's a Slitheen with her baby. I get it."

Rose swallowed back tears as she looked at the strange tableaux, unable to shake the image it conjured up from her head. Sometimes they still surprised, these intense feelings, taking over her like some sort of wave, sweeping all other thoughts away, and leaving just one: her. It was like a physical ache inside of her, a longing to have her in her arms, to bury her nose in her hair and breathe her in, to have her all around her.

Finally, she said, "Do you think she's-"

"Rose," he interrupted quickly but gently, knowing what she was about to say. It was what was going through his head at the exact same moment. But she couldn't say it. "Rose, you know what we said."

She nodded, not taking her eyes off the Slitheen family in front of her. "I know, I just…" She remembered the conversation they'd had, within days of that momentous day when the Doctor had walked back into their lives. She remembered how he'd made her sit down and write that letter to her mum, explaining what to do if anything like this ever happened. She remembered how he'd told her that, whatever happened, wherever they ended up, the one thing she must never do was mention Tala.

"She's part Time Lord, that's bad enough," he'd explained. "But she's part human too. And that's worse."

It had seemed so easy to agree to back then, still basking in the joy of having him back in her life, a proper father to their daughter, a real presence in the world again. Rose had felt invincible for a time, imagining the possibilities as she'd written that letter, but feeling sure it would all come to nothing. Just over two years later, the unthinkable had happened, and now all Rose wanted to do was talk about their daughter, evoke memories and keep them close, if only to make herself feel better.

Without thinking, she reached out a hand to touch the wall in front of her, like she would any window. To her surprise, she touched a solid sheet of glass.

"A one-way field, very clever." The Doctor put his glasses on and regarded it, crouching down beside her. "So you can get out of these cages but not in." He tapped the glass lightly, being careful not to wake the slumbering Slitheens up. "They must have a way of turning it off, reversing it or something."

"Wouldn't it be more useful to stop them getting out?" Rose asked, thinking about what she'd seen Slitheen do before. "I mean, who's going to jump into a cage that small with a creature like that?"

"Good question." The Doctor stood up. "A very good question. If we can walk out so easily, why don't they all?"

"Maybe they're scared," Rose mused, pressing her hand against the glass again. "Maybe they don't realize it won't hurt them."

"I can believe that of Slitheen, but not all of them." The Doctor looked at all the other cages, shaking his head. "Something's not right. This isn't making sense."

"Maybe these are normal cages," Rose suggested, standing up. "Just regular glass cases, like at London Zoo," she added, remembering the reptile house they'd visited only last week. "So they couldn't get out."

"But there're no doors," the Doctor reminded her. "Anyway, it would take more than glass to keep _that_ in." He pointed.

Rose looked and instinctively stepped back when she saw what was in the cell. "But… I thought they were all dead."

"They're like cockroaches. They'll be here in one way or another long after anything else." The Doctor spat the words out bitterly as he took a step towards the Dalek cell. "Why wouldn't it just come straight through, it's clever enough to work it out."

"Maybe all that metal would react or something."

"No, it's resistant to electricity." The Doctor continued frowning. "It's almost like these cages are completely sealed, on both sides, so no one can get in or out. Like the force field is active in both directions."

"Then why were we able to get through?"

"Exactly." The Doctor walked down the line of cells. "All of these aliens, locked up, secure. And we're just allowed to walk free?"

Rose walked in the opposite direction. In each cell, slept an alien creature, some she recognized, like the Slitheen and the Cat-Human. In another cell, a Krillitane hung upside, wings wrapped around it like a bat. A shiver ran down her spine as she passed an Ood, standing bolt upright, eyes shut. It was the next cell that made her stop dead though.

"Doctor!" She beckoned him over to see inside. He strolled down, hands in pockets, glasses on. For a few seconds, Rose was able to forget the last few years and half-believe that this was a routine adventure for them, like the old days.

His dark eyes widened when he came beside her. "Cassandra?"

Inside the cell was the familiar frame with paper-thin skin stretched across it. The only distinguishable human features were a mouth, a small dimple of a nose and two eyes, shut now as the Last Human dozed.

Rose looked at the Doctor. "But I don't understand. She's dead, we saw her die."

"Something's not right." The Doctor looked round, his hearts beating faster. "Someone's been searching throughout time for all these creatures, Cassandra, the Dalek… us. But why?"

At that moment, the dim corridor was flooded with light, and the doors at both ends of the room crashed open. Men with guns ran in both ends.

Rose gulped. "I think we might be about to find out."

* * *

_**Next time: Cross My Heart**_

"_Uncle Jack?" A small voice from down on the floor made Jack jerk himself out of his reverie. He looked down at the mattress he'd borrowed from the medical bay downstairs and brought up here. Looking up at him was the reason for all this reminiscing, the catalyst for his state of mind this morning. A seven-year-old girl with chocolate brown eyes and a mass of blonde hair, sticking in all directions this morning and still clutching her stuffed cat._


	6. Cross My Heart

**Another day, another chapter. Should really be making notes for an exam, instead I got distracted and posted this.**

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* * *

**The bite wound, more of a nick than a proper bite, had about stopped bleeding, though small trickles still made their slow lazy way down Toshiko's arm as Gwen helped her wrap a bandage around it. They were both glad to be sat a little way away from where the three men stood. 

"Jack hasn't said anything yet," Toshiko remarked in an undertone. "That's never a good sign."

Gwen glanced over. Jack was standing in front of Owen and Ianto, not making eye contact with either of them, but inspecting his nails instead. Ianto was looking at their leader warily, brown eyes darting across his face, whilst Owen, with his hands shoved in his pockets, was trying to appear indifferent and entirely at ease, but the sudden pallor on his face gave away his anxiety.

It was a bit surprising that Jack hadn't leapt out of the SUV all-guns blazing, the way he'd sworn and bitched the whole way there. Gwen had half-expected him to head straight over to Owen and punch him flat out. Admittedly, the main priority when they'd finally caught up with the rest of the team had been to help Owen and Ianto restrain the Weevil they had in a half-Nelson on the floor, and to help Toshiko up off the floor. Jack had used a stun-gun on the Weevil, knocking it out for around an hour. Glancing at her watch now, Gwen reasoned that, unless the dead-lock in communications lifted soon, they'd have a reprise of the earlier situation. And she guessed the Weevil would be even harder to control the second time around.

Finally, at long last, Jack spoke. His voice was dangerously soft, barely audible from where Gwen and Toshiko were.

"I'm still waiting."

Owen frowned. "For what?"

"An apology."

"What?" Owen exclaimed. "What for?"

Jack shoved his hands into his pockets and paced in front of him. "I don't know, let me think. How about, forgetting to let me know about this operation? For charging off across Cardiff on a whim? For not keeping me up to date with the situation? For putting one of my team in danger? For taking over seven hours to track down one lone Weevil… any of them take your fancy?"

"Look, I've said sorry to Tosh, but in all fairness, she should have been paying attention-"

A loud thud made both Gwen and Toshiko jump in alarm, fearing that Jack had actually thumped Owen this time. Instead they saw fist sized whole in a sheet of plywood boarding up a window, and Jack trying not to wince as he cradled his right hand in his left. Gwen avoid Toshiko's eye as they both fought against laughing.

"You were in charge, Owen! You should have been paying attention for her!" Jack glared at his second in-command. "You should have had a plan worked out, and then a back-up plan and then a reserve plan! Instead, what did you do? You charged around Cardiff all night hoping. Why didn't you use Tosh's laptop to track it down?"

"The hot weather's been affecting the equipment." Ianto stepped in to offer an explanation. "Tosh couldn't get it up and running."

Gwen supposed that was a fair point; it was strange, but since coming back to Cardiff, she couldn't help feeling it had got even hotter, like there'd been some temperature increase all the way along the M4.

Jack, however, didn't see that as an excuse. "Then you should have gone back to the Hub and used the equipment there."

"I thought it would be better if-"

"No, you didn't, Owen! Your problem is you don't think!" Jack growled again. "If you'd gone back to the Hub, run the programme from there, you'd have had an idea where the Weevil could be, a general location. You'd have found it far quicker and the job would have been done. But that was too boring for you, not enough excitement, not enough racing around like Action Man on speed." Jack shook his head in disgust. "Have you any idea what damage that Weevil could have done before you found it? How many more people could have been killed?"

"But they didn't-"

"That's not the point!" Jack roared. "I thought I could trust you, Owen, I thought that you'd be able to look after things for one afternoon. That's all, just one bloody afternoon!"

"Well it's not like you kept us informed over where you'd gone!" Owen hit back, more out of hurt pride than anything.

"That's different!"

"Oh yeah, I'd forgotten, one rule for us, another rule entirely for Captain Jack Harkness!" Owen spat the name out.

Gwen hurriedly finished bandaging Tosh's arm and walked over before Jack could retaliate. It was nearly one in the morning, her head was thumping, and she really couldn't take a full-scale Owen vs. Jack argument tonight. Besides, she actually didn't mind Owen, and no matter what she'd said to Jack earlier, if she was placing a bet, her money was squarely on Jack.

"Isn't it time we started getting back to the Hub? It's been twenty minutes, that stun gun can't last forever. And Tosh needs to get home, she's had a shock." She looked between the two men, turning her big brown eyes to her full advantage. "And I'd really like to get a few hours sleep tonight."

Jack regarded her for a few seconds, before letting out a big sigh. "Alright, you're right. Come on, time we were getting back." He walked past Gwen, heading back to the SUV.

"You should probably get Tala home to bed too."

Like a bomb going off, Gwen's words made all the other members of the team whip round to look at her.

"Tala? Who's Tala?" Owen demanded. He looked over at Jack. "I thought the bird that called you earlier was called Jackie?"

Gwen pulled a face and hesitantly looked up to see how Jack had taken her statement. It had literally not even occurred to her that Tala was a secret; in fact, she'd forgotten that everyone else knew nothing about her. It felt like such a long time since they'd left Cardiff this afternoon, that trip to London had felt like days instead of a few hours. She'd almost begun to believe that Tala had always been around. Funny how fast you adapt to a situation.

Jack closed his eyes and then ran a hand over his face. "Tala's…" He paused, and opened the car door to show them her. "She's the daughter of a friend, I'm just looking after her for a while."

"And you brought her out with you?" Toshiko looked horrified. "Jack, anything could have happened!"

"I didn't exactly have time to organize a baby-sitter." Jack shot Owen another glower. "Anyway, no harm done. I'll meet you guys back at the Hub. Owen, drop Tosh off at home – no arguments," he added as Toshiko opened her mouth to protest. "Get home, get some rest. If you want tomorrow off, take it."

"And me?" Owen challenged him.

Jack dead-panned. "Like I said. I'll see you back at the Hub. Gwen, you're with me." He swung into the driver's seat with ease and started the engine. Gwen was left with no other option but to get into the passenger seat.

"And I thought you were letting us all off with an early night," she joked, more to break the silence than anything. She couldn't help the guilt creeping over her now; she hadn't meant to draw attention to where they'd been today. Jack was a fiercely private person, and from the way he'd acted back in London, like some sort of spy, she couldn't help thinking that there was a reason that this little girl had been shuttled away from her home. Some sort of danger, someone out to get her whilst her parents were gone. Mind you, though, he wouldn't have been able to hide Tala from the rest of the team forever. It was a miracle they hadn't spotted her before Jack pointed her out.

"I'm dropping you off at home," Jack replied. "You're right, it's been a long day, you need to get some rest."

"But you're making Owen work?" Gwen couldn't help a smile spreading across her face. "Jack Harkness, you're evil!"

"Thank you very much." He smiled back. "Do you think Tosh will take me up on my offer?"

"Tosh, take a day off?" Gwen scoffed. "Unlikely. She's nearly as addicted to this job as you are!"

Jack laughed, then fell silent for a few minutes. Gwen glanced across at him.

"I'm sorry about mentioning Tala, it was out of line-"

"Not your fault."

"But it wasn't my place-"

"Gwen," Jack interrupted her again. "I asked you along today, I didn't ask you not to say anything. If I wanted you to keep it a secret, I'd have told you." He drove one-handed, hanging his other hand out the open window. "Just as well I didn't tell you she's part-alien, otherwise we would be in trouble."

Gwen turned to look at him again so quickly she almost got whiplash. "What?" She was never quite sure if she'd heard him right, whether it was her mind jumping to conclusions. Or whether he was joking, he was always so flippant. "Jack, what did you just say?"

"Is this your stop?" Jack nodded to the block of flats they'd pulled up outside. "I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

It was seven in the morning and Jack was wide awake. He'd been awake for two hours, even though, by the time they'd secured the new Weevil it had been gone two in the morning, and even then, he hadn't got to bed until three. Still, two hours sleep; he'd survived on less. 

The annoying thing was that he couldn't settle to any work this morning. He'd been sitting at his desk for over an hour now, after convincing himself that no matter how long he lay there, he wasn't going to get back to sleep. Usually, if he woke up that early, he'd be able to while away the hours until the Hub was once again buzzing with people by doing his own paperwork. The others always complained that he never seemed to do any filing or report filling in, that he got away with everything. Jack always just smiled, not quite willing to admit that he usually completed it all before they'd even emerged from whatever dreams they'd succumbed to that night. He wasn't sure why he never said anything, whether it was because he enjoyed the sense of mystery it gave him, or whether it was just too sad to admit to.

This morning though, he was finding it hard to concentrate. No matter what intentions he started with, his mind just kept on wandering away from the boring but important form he was filling in to other things. Things he hadn't thought about in years. The colour of the sun when it was seen through the atmosphere of Saturn. The smell of the best fish and chips in the universe, found if you took a right at Jupiter and kept going for about five hundred light years (really not that far in the grand scale of things). The way Rose's eyes sparkled when she laughed. The smell of her shampoo. The smile on the Doctor's face when she wasn't looking. The noise of the TARDIS. It wasn't entirely through choice that he'd blocked those memories out, but through necessity. If he'd had a free rein over his life, he'd have lived in those memories. But life went on, he had to keep going. He had no other choice.

So much time had passed since those days, the long lazy days they'd spent together, traveling from place to place with hardly a care in the world. He'd changed. The Doctor had changed. Even Rose had changed, he was certain of it. She was a mother now. Jack had always known that if he ever found them again, things wouldn't be the same. But he'd never imagined that they'd be living so close by, living their own lives together, bringing up a child, in the same time, on the same planet, and that… that they wouldn't contact him. That hurt. It hurt like hell, and Jack knew hell well. He'd missed them both so much since that final time and yet they'd been here all along.

"Uncle Jack?" A small voice from down on the floor made Jack jerk himself out of his reverie. He looked down at the mattress he'd borrowed from the medical bay downstairs and brought up here. Looking up at him was the reason for all this reminiscing, the catalyst for his state of mind this morning. A seven-year-old girl with chocolate brown eyes and a mass of blonde hair, sticking in all directions this morning and still clutching her stuffed cat.

"Morning." He smiled at her. He wasn't sure why she'd decided to start calling him Uncle Jack, but it was good enough for him. It felt good to be associated with a family again, even if it wasn't real. Rose and the Doctor had been the closest thing to family he'd ever had; he almost felt like Tala's uncle for real. "Did you sleep okay?"

She nodded. "So did Cat." She gestured towards the battered soft toy nestled underneath her arm.

Jack leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "That's good. Cats are good at sleeping, I bet Cat sleeps a lot."

"He likes playing too," Tala insisted firmly.

"What does he like playing?" Jack was amazed how easily this conversation flowed; despite his assurances to Gwen that it would all be fine, he'd been a little apprehensive of this whole taking care of Tala thing. But it was even easier than he'd thought.

"All sorts," Tala replied. "He likes going to the park and feeding the ducks. And he likes stories. And he likes playing Jungle."

"He's an adventurous cat," Jack remarked.

"He likes going on adventures with Mummy and Daddy and me too," Tala continued.

Jack frowned. "And where do you and Mummy and Daddy go on adventures?"

"All over the place." Suddenly Tala flushed red and looked down at the floor. "I'm not supposed to talk about it though."

"Why not?"

"Mummy says people wouldn't understand. That it's a secret." Tala paused for a second before saying, "I'm hungry, what's for breakfast?"

Jack, his mind having been absorbed by the things Tala wasn't supposed to be telling him, was taken aback. "Breakfast? Ah, right." He didn't usually bother with breakfast, just had a cup of Ianto's special brew coffee when he came in. He wasn't even sure what it was that seven-year-olds ate. "What do you usually have?"

"Depends." Tala shrugged. "Sometimes I have cereal. If Daddy's making it, he puts banana on the top. He usually burns toast. Or sometimes Mummy makes pancakes."

Jack pulled a face. "Haven't got much of any of that around here." He pulled a drawer in his desk out. He remembered too late that he'd finished the last of the bananas yesterday, apart from that dodgy one still sitting on his desk, which he didn't think would go down too well with Tala. He thought as quickly as he could, and came up with just one solution. "You stay here a minute and I'll see what I can do."

He headed down to the main floor of the Hub. Just like he'd thought, there was the half-eaten packet of biscuits still sitting on Gwen's desk from yesterday. He made a silent promise to the air that he'd replace them, knowing how much she liked a mid-morning (and mid-afternoon, pre-lunch, post-lunch and end of the day) snack. Thinking about it, maybe this was one packet of biscuits she could do with missing out on.

Tala looked at the offered breakfast slightly doubtfully, her forehead creasing into little lines. "Cookies? For breakfast?"

"Just this once. As a treat." Jack tried to get into the mind of a seven-year-old.

"Mummy doesn't let me eat biscuits for breakfast."

_Mummy will never know_, Jack thoughts sadly, before pulling himself together. They weren't dead, they'd be back, soon, he was sure. Even so, this one small blip in his babysitting duties… they didn't have to be told. "How about we don't tell her? Just this once, as a treat, you can have them."

Tala looked at him, trying to weight him up in her mind. "Promise you won't tell?"

"Cross my heart." Jack mimed a cross on his chest. "What about you? Do you promise?"

Tala pulled a face, her nose wrinkled up in thought. She looked so like Rose, Jack was unable to prevent himself breaking out in a smile. Eventually, she nodded, and copied his mime. "Cross my heart."

* * *

Gwen wasn't sure what had made her decide to buy the sweets in the newsagent's that morning. She'd left home early, before Rhys had even woken up. She hadn't woken him when she got in last night, and this morning she scrawled a quick note, telling him she'd started work early, that she'd be home earlier tonight, that she'd bring something with her for dinner, that, if he had a chance, they really needed some shopping done. She'd added a lot of exclamation marks, hoping it would make the letter seem more cute and less of yet another "sorry-I-missed-you-babe" note which seemed to be circulating their flat on a regular basis lately. As a final touch she'd scrawled a quick "Love you" and finished with a row of scribbled kisses. 

She'd gone straight to bed after Jack dropped her off last night, but she hadn't slept much. For starters, she hadn't been imagining the heat; it was definitely hotter tonight that it had been during the day, and when she listened to the shower radio this morning, the breakfast show host had confirmed that today would be "even hotter than yesterday, folks, isn't that brilliant!" Gwen had to disagree with him on that; he didn't have to spend the day working down in a steamy basement with unreliable air-con, nor did he have the possibility of running down the streets of Cardiff after yet another alien.

It hadn't just been the heat keeping her awake though. Her mind wouldn't switch off, it kept going over and over the events of the day. Especially what Jack had said just before he'd dropped her off: _Just as well I didn't tell you she's part-alien, otherwise we would be in trouble_.

It was impossible, she thought, as she walked along the road, smiling a hello at one of her neighbours as he made his way to work. That little girl who had slept so deeply all the way back from London was normal, as human as any of the people walking or cycling or driving along the roads of Cardiff this morning. She had a human granny, who lived in a regular flat in a almost-horrifically average estate. Her mother, this Rose, for all the attributes Jack had hung upon her (and it hadn't entirely escaped Gwen's notice that he'd never actually said who she really was), she was human. This was all ridiculous, she'd obviously heard him wrong.

But, she reasoned as she walked into her usual newsagents to get the morning paper, but stranger things had happened. Since joining Torchwood, she'd seen a lot. Things that most people would say were impossible and ridiculous, that people _did_ say were impossible and ridiculous. She remembered one of the first conversations she'd had with Jack, before she'd even joined Torchwood.

_Gwen took a swig of her pint of beer and then put it down on the bar, feeling Jack's eyes on her the whole time. "The thing is, I just don't understand-" she began, but Jack broke in, in that delicious accent that she could imagine listening to forever and not getting tired of._

_"No, I tell you what I don't understand. You're gonna rattle on with that 'How can this be true?' kinda schtick. What's it gonna take for you people?" He sounded part-annoyed, part-bemused, part-amused. "__If you want evidence of aliens, how about that great spaceship hovering over London on Christmas Day? What about the battle of Canary Wharf? A Cyberman in every home!"_

_Gwen shrugged. "My boyfriend says that it's like a sort of terrorism. Like they put drugs in the water supplies - psychotropic drugs, causing mass hallucinations and stuff."_

_Jack snorted. "Yeah, well, your boyfriend's stupid."_

_"Oh, you've met him?" Gwen quipped back, and then all Jack could do was laugh._

The point was though, Jack was right. Much as she loved Rhys, much as she'd believed his theories on alien life-forms, even back then she'd known, somewhere, tucked away in the back of her mind, that there was more to it than drugs in the water. It had been a convenient explanation for something too strange, too utterly _alien_ for her to understand properly. Even now, now she knew for certain that what Jack had told her was true, she still couldn't entirely comprehend it. But she knew that it was true, there were aliens. She wasn't stupid, she couldn't fool herself into thinking that what she'd heard Jack say last night wasn't possible, even if it wasn't true. It was possible, or, maybe more accurately, it wasn't _im_possible.

As she paid for the paper, making agreeing noises with the newsagent about how awful the neighbourhood was getting, about how appalling it was that the police didn't do anything about the graffiti outside, about how sorry she was about that (no matter how often she told Brian that she didn't really work for the police anymore, he was still convinced that it was all down to her that crime was on the up), Gwen let her mind flirt with the idea that what Jack had told her was true. That Tala was part-alien. It was crazy… but it was a good explanation for why they'd had to go and rescue her yesterday. If anyone know aliens, Torchwood knew aliens. It made sense.

"Do you want anything else, love?" Brian broke into her thoughts now. Gwen looked down and saw that he'd put her change into her hand. A queue was forming behind her. And she'd just been standing there, oblivious. She really should have got some sleep last night.

"Um…" She looked down at the sweets on sale on the front of the counter and, half in a daze, grabbed a few packets and thrust them onto the counter. "I'll take these."

* * *

An hour had passed without Jack even noticing the time going. He wasn't sure what he'd been doing really; he didn't have any work to show for that hour. The hour had slipped away whilst he sat with Tala, listening to her tell him all about her school and the Easter card she'd been making last Friday. She spoke excitedly of the school trip they were going on next week to a farm as he helped her get dressed into a pair of jeans and a pretty pink t-shirt with butterflies embroidered on it. She informed him she wanted plaits as he brushed her hair, before continuing her explanation of why Daddy wouldn't let her have a cat. 

"He says he doesn't like them, which is silly. He says when you've been threatened by one in a nun's womble, you don't like them anymore."

"Wimple," Jack corrected her, smiling. "When was your daddy threatened by a cat, Tala?"

Tala shrugged and then put a hand over her mouth. "I wasn't supposed to tell anyone that."

"I won't tell," Jack insisted, winking. He pulled a face. "You sure you want plaits, Tala?"

She nodded. "Mummy always lets me have plaits on a Wednesday. She says they take too long on other days, but she has Wednesdays off work. Daddy's useless at them."

_He's not the only one_, Jack thought, looking at the strange mess he'd made so far and de-tangling all the strands of hair to start again. "Where does your mummy work?"

"In a shop."

"And what about daddy?"

"He doesn't really do anything."

Jack wondered how the Doctor would like to be described like that. Doing nothing was practically the antithesis of what he was; doing nothing was almost a crime as far as he was concerned.

"I thought you said you went on adventures with him."

Tala regarded Jack suspiciously. Jack recognized that look from Rose too, her protective side, shielding the Doctor from harm. Clearly his daughter felt exactly the same way about him.

"I'm not supposed to talk about them."

Jack immediately felt guilty for pumping her for information. "I know, I'm sorry. Tell me about this farm trip again."

Tala brightened up again and she continued talking about all the animals she was going to see. Jack, meanwhile, continued struggling with these plaits she was determined to have.

The door to the Hub opened. Jack glanced over his shoulder, wondering who was in this early. Certainly not Owen, who had slouched off home at two-thirty this morning and announced that he wasn't coming in until the afternoon at least, even if there was an emergency. He hoped it wasn't Toshiko either, that bite had given her a real shock. Most likely it would be Ianto; he was usually the first in, after Jack.

The footsteps that came up the stairs weren't the smooth ones of the be-suited Welshman though. Hard heels rang out on the metal flooring.

"Morning Jack."

Jack turned to look. "Gwen. I didn't expect you in this early."

Gwen didn't reply to him, but flickered an eyebrow at him. "Ah, that's where my biscuits went."

Tala looked at the biscuit in her hand guiltily, and then turned her big brown eyes onto Jack. She almost imperceptibly moved closer to his leg, as though she was relying on him to protect her.

"We had them for breakfast. Just for a treat," Jack said hastily.

Tala nodded, her face half-hidden in Jack's leg.

Gwen smiled and crouched down on the floor. "That's okay. Were they nice?"

Tala nodded again.

"You don't remember me do you?" Gwen asked.

Tala buried herself further against Jack's leg.

"Tala, this is Gwen. You met her yesterday," Jack intervened.

Tala looked up at him. "Is she a friend of Mummy and Daddy's too?"

"No," Gwen replied quickly. "I work with Jack though. That's a lovely t-shirt you're wearing."

Tala looked down at her t-shirt and smiled shyly. "Uncle Jack is going to plait my hair."

"Is he? That'll look pretty," Gwen glanced at Jack as he pulled an exasperated face. "I tell you what. Do you see that desk there?" She pointed through the glass wall of the office at her own rather scruffy desk.

Tala left Jack's leg to walk over and looked in the direction Gwen indicated. "The one with the pretty paperweight?"

Gwen wasn't quite sure how she could see that from here, but nodded. "Yeah. Well, there's a big bag of sweets on that desk. How about you go and get it and bring it up here, and then I'll plait your hair for you."

Tala nodded eagerly. Then she looked at Jack slightly shame-facedly. "Do you mind, Uncle Jack?"

"Me? No!" Jack shook his head.

"You're pretty rubbish at it," Tala informed him, wrinkling her nose up, before leaving the office and heading down to Gwen's desk.

Jack sighed heavily and sank back into his chair. "Thank you! You have no idea how much you've saved my butt." He munched on a biscuit thoughtfully, putting his feet up on his desk. "These are good, how comes you never offer them around?"

Gwen didn't reply, but stood up and watched out the window instead, as Tala made her way to Gwen's desk. Jack noticed the tension in her shoulders, and gently swung his feet back off his desk and walked to join her.

"You're good with her," he remarked.

"My sister's got a daughter about her age," Gwen replied without looking at him.

"You never said."

"You never asked."

Jack shoved his hands into his pockets and looked out the window as Tala sat down in Gwen's chair to look through the bag of sweets. He couldn't believe how much he was already feeling like Tala was the centre of the universe, how every move she made completely captured his attention. He'd known her less than twelve hours, and known of her less than twenty-four, but already she was becoming an integral part of his life. He'd never felt like that before… well, apart from when he was with her mother and father.

"You're in early," he remarked.

Gwen suddenly turned to him, anger flashing across her face. "How about we just cut the crap, Jack, and you answer some questions for once?" He was about to protest when she cut in again. "I've been up half the night because of you. I cancelled on my boyfriend, I got hardly any sleep, I feel like shit. And I don't mind all that, Jack, because you're a friend, I'd do that for any of my friends. But it works both ways. Friends tell each other the truth."

Jack looked down at the floor. "I know. It's complicated though."

"Isn't it always?" Gwen looked at him, and her tough-girl act gave in a little. "Jack, just talk to me. I'm on your side, I want to help."

Jack didn't reply.

"What you said last night, about her being part-alien. Is that true?"

Jack let out a long breath. "Yes."

Gwen looked again at the golden-haired girl searching through the bag of sweets, looking a million miles away from the little green men of children's comics. Still, she knew enough now to realize that things weren't always what they seemed.

"What is she?"

"Part Time Lord." Jack glanced sideways to see Gwen give him a puzzled look. "They're this alien race. Or they were. There's only one left now. They came from Gallifrey, they were a humanoid race. They were one of the most powerful races in the universe. Then there was this war, the Time War, and they all died. All except one."

"Tala's father?"

"Right." Jack nodded.

Gwen hesitated. "But… but if her father's an alien, how-?"

"I have no idea," Jack admitted. "It should have been impossible. I always thought it was. I think even _he_ thought it was. But there she is."

There she was indeed.

"Jack, how did you know her father?" Gwen asked now. "You said you were old friends."

"I traveled with him for a while. Him and Rose. Then we sort of parted ways. I ended up here. And they… well, they ended up some place else. With Tala." _Without me_, he added to himself.

Gwen took a step backwards from the window. "This is mad. We're supposed to capture aliens, Jack, not look after their children. What will the others say when they hear?"

"I was hoping you wouldn't tell them." Jack remained at the window, watching over Tala.

"What?" Gwen stared at him incredulously. "Jack, they've got a right to know!" She glanced over at where the mattress Tala had slept on was. "Especially if you're going to move her in here. Jack, this is ridiculous!"

"You can't tell them Gwen."

"Give me one good reason why not."

"Because Tala's father's enemy number one as far as Torchwood's concerned."

Gwen felt her stomach flip and her knees tremble ever so slightly. "He's what?"

"You heard me. Tala's father is the reason you've got a job here, the reason this place exists at all."

"Torchwood was created to catch _him_?" Gwen tried to stop her voice rising too high.

"It was a mistake. People didn't understand…" Jack shook his head. "But yeah. Basically, that would be it."

Gwen turned the matter over in her mind. On the one hand, Torchwood was supposed to protect the Earth from alien invasions. They locked aliens up, they destroyed them, they foiled their plans. That was what they did, and no one was more dedicated to it than Jack. And yet here he was, harboring the daughter of Torchwood's Most Wanted. On the other hand, Tala was just a little girl. She was part human, and looked completely human. She wore tops with butterflies on and wanted plaits in her hair; she liked sweets and went to sleep with a stuffed cat under her arm. She was so ridiculously normal.

"What's happened to Rose and…?"

"The Doctor. He's called the Doctor."

_The Doctor_… _The right kind of Doctor…_ "Jack-"

"I don't know," Jack spoke, as though Gwen hadn't been about to say something. "You heard Jackie, she hasn't a clue. Anything could have happened to them. Anything at all."

Gwen followed his gaze as he looked down at Tala again. She wondered how much the little girl knew, whether she realised that maybe, just maybe, her parents wouldn't be coming home again. She wondered how Jack would ever be able to explain that to her. Knowing that, how could she ever demand they treat her like a criminal, like a thing that needed locking up? She was just a little girl.

"Is he dangerous?"

Jack looked back over his shoulder at her. "The Doctor?" He nodded slowly. "But he's good," he added.

Gwen joined him back at the window. "Wow. To look at her you'd never know."

"I know." Jack smiled. "She's gorgeous, isn't she?"

Gwen didn't reply. "Jack, is this really the best place for her?"

"Probably not. But what other choice did I have?"

Gwen couldn't answer that.

The door to the Hub crashed open and, with a babble of noise, Ianto, Toshiko and, to their surprise, Owen came in. Toshiko's arm was still bandaged up.

"What did we say? Never misses a day." Jack sighed. He stretched. "Well, better head down there, sort things out."

Gwen nodded. Then, unexpectedly, she reached out a hand, slipped it into his and squeezed tight. "I won't say anything to them." She gave him a small smile. "Cross my heart."

* * *

_**Next time: The Pleasure Dome**_

"_Hands up!" The commander of the guards directed them, waving his gun at them. "Get your hands above your heads!"_

_Rose didn't quibble. Neither did the Doctor, but, unlike her, he was unable to keep his mouth shut. Until she met him, Rose had thought no one could possibly talk as much as her mum, and she'd often been called a gobby cow herself at school. But he was something else._

"_Hi!" He beamed round at them. "Nice to meet you, I'm the Doctor and this is Rose."_

_Rose shot him a look. "Should we really be introducing ourselves?" she hissed._

_The Doctor raised his eyebrows at her and then winked quickly. Rose supposed he meant it to comfort her; it didn't._


	7. The Pleasure Dome

**I screwed up! This is the right version! No big changes, just to the kinds of tickets they can buy, so if you've already read this, just whizz down to that bit.

* * *

**

Rose had been on the wrong end of men with guns many a time on her travels with the Doctor. There'd been that time in London, the first time they went home. In Van Statten's museum. In Scotland, with Queen Victoria. Even so, no matter how often it happened, she was never going to get used to it. Looking down the barrel of a gun would never become easier. 

"Hands up!" The commander of the guards directed them, waving his gun at them. "Get your hands above your heads!"

Rose didn't quibble. Neither did the Doctor, but, unlike her, he was unable to keep his mouth shut. Until she met him, Rose had thought no one could possibly talk as much as her mum, and she'd often been called a gobby cow herself at school. But he was something else.

"Hi!" He beamed round at them. "Nice to meet you, I'm the Doctor and this is Rose."

Rose shot him a look. "Should we really be introducing ourselves?" she hissed.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows at her and then winked quickly. Rose supposed he meant it to comfort her; it didn't.

"Where have you come from?" The commander demanded now, as armed guards surrounded them on all sides. "Check them for teleportation devices."

Rose glared as a guard approached her, a spotty faced teenager. "You lay a finger on me and I'll shove that gun somewhere you wouldn't want it."

"Rose," the Doctor said in a warning tone. "Let them check you over."

Rose reluctantly allowed the guard to pat her down and check all her pockets.

"Nothing, chief," the guard reported back.

"I could have told you that," Rose muttered, readjusting her top. "And you didn't have to be quite so thorough."

"Chief. He's got this." One of the other guards pulled the sonic screwdriver out of the Doctor's pocket and tossed it to the commander.

The commander turned it over in his hand. "Some sort of sonic probe?"

"That's _screwdriver_," the Doctor corrected, sounding hurt. "And can you not hold it like that?"

The commander pressed a few buttons. "What's it for?"

"Flat-packs," the Doctor lied smoothly. "Murder to put up."

"He's not wrong, chief," a guard spoke up. "It took me all week-end when my Sheila bought a new bed. Where did you get it from, I could use one."

"Guard!" The commander snapped. "If we could save the pleasantries." The guard looked subdued, and Rose shot him a sympathetic smile. "As I was saying. Where have you come from?"

The Doctor rubbed his ear, stalling for time. Rose recognized that method, he'd used it many a time, not least in arguments with her. "Well, it's a funny story actually, actually, isn't it, Rose?"

"Hilarious!" Rose faked a laugh.

"You see, what happened was-"

"They must have got trapped after hours, chief." The guard who'd been so interested in the sonic screwdriver cut in.

"Here?" The commander looked doubtful. "Not possible."

"Maybe the doors weren't shut properly, they just sort of drifted through."

The chief looked them up and down. "Is that what happened?"

"Yes, just what he said." The Doctor nodded. "We… drifted, we do that a lot. Sorry." He looked round at everyone. "Anyway, no harm done."

The chief sighed and gestured to all the guards to put their guns down. "Alright, they're legit. Sorry about that sir, madam. Can't be too careful these days though." He waved to two of the guards. "Go and get maintenance to take a look at the doors. Do I have to do everything myself?" he muttered as the two men left. He turned his attention back onto the Doctor and Rose. "Can I just check your tickets? It's just a formality thing, for the records."

"Erm, sure." The Doctor glanced at Rose as he pulled the psychic paper out of his pocket. "How's that?"

The chief took it off of him and frowned. "This is a single. Where's yours?" He nodded at Rose.

"Um, isn't that a double?" Rose asked, trying to sound casual. "Doctor, I told you to get a double. I'm sure we were charged for a double." She rolled her eyes jovially. "Seems it's more than maintenance who aren't doing their job right!"

The commander looked at the ticket again. "No, this is only a single." He handed it back to the Doctor. "You'll have to go back down to the ticket office, I'm afraid, and start again."

"What?" The Doctor suddenly leapt into life. "No, this is a double."

"You're alright, sir, but I'm afraid you," he looked at Rose, "will have to come with me and buy a ticket. The office will be opening soon." He glanced at his watch. "You'll have to queue up again."

"No, she's not going anywhere!" The Doctor grabbed her arm. "I'm not going anywhere without her!"

The commander shrugged. "Sir, it's up to you. If you want to go on, you can, but she's got to come with me."

"_She's_ got a name!" Rose spat.

"I'm sorry, madam, but they're the rules. I don't make them, I just follow them." The commander gestured towards the door. "So? What are you doing, sir?"

The Doctor slipped his hand into Rose's. "Like I said, I'm not going anywhere without her. But don't think I won't be making a formal complaint about this."

As they were marched out of the zoo-room, Rose moved closer to the Doctor, nuzzling her cheek against his shoulder. "Thank you," she said in a small voice.

"What for?"

"Coming with me."

The Doctor looked at her, amazed. "What did you expect me to do? I wasn't going to lose you again."

Rose smiled. "Aww. And I thought you loved that screwdriver more than me," she teased.

"That, Ms. Tyler, is not possible." The Doctor landed a feather-light kiss on her head. "Come on. We better see what it is we're buying a ticket for."

* * *

"He wasn't kidding when he said we'd have to queue up again!" Rose exclaimed as they surveyed the snake of people in a large warehouse-like room. "How long do you think that'll take to go down?"

"That isn't the end of it." The Doctor pointed at a small doorway in the room. "There're stairs there. This line could go on forever." He looked around. "Where are we though?" he asked, frowning.

"Somewhere grim. As usual." Rose sighed. "You know, once, just _once_, I'd like to be abducted somewhere nice. Or even just _pleasant_. Somewhere with sun and sky and maybe a few trees. Is that asking for too much?"

The Doctor clearly wasn't listening as he continued looking around. "This is like the basement of something. Or somewhere. I don't know… Why do I feel like we've been here before?"

Rose looked at him and then looked back around. "Now that you mention it…" She scoured her thoughts, trying to pinpoint the strange basement corridor to a particular memory. The trouble was, seen one basement, seen them all. There wasn't a huge difference between a basement in a castle in nineteenth century Scotland and a basement in a space-age hospital in the year five billion. They were both horrible places. At least this one was lit, she thought, with bright artificial lights that tried their best to be sunlight, but fell far short.

She looked at the queue against one of the long walls of the room. It reminded her of the queue outside Madame Tussauds on a weekend, long and seemingly never-ending. They'd been three times before the line had been short enough for them to consider joining it, and they'd really only stuck with it then because Tala had been so desperate to go and look in. Rose had kicked herself for not booking beforehand, then they could have joined the VIP queue…

"Doctor!" She grabbed his sleeve suddenly, so hard it made him jump.

"What is it?" He searched her face for some kind of trouble. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing! Not really!" She shook her head. "But look, there's a shorter queue." She pointed to the opposite wall to the first queue, where a much shorter line of people was moving in at the double doors both queues ended up at. "VIP queue."

The Doctor looked. "So there is." He looked back at Rose. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"For once, I'm almost certain, yes!" Rose nodded eagerly as he took his psychic paper out again. "And this time, pay attention! Else you'll have me thrown out as some sort of scrubber."

They reached the front of the queue quickly, before the other queue had shifted even slightly. The Doctor produced the psychic paper and then leaned back on his heels, hands in pockets whilst the man on the door, dressed in a smart red uniform, like a bell-boy at a fancy hotel.

His eyes flickered over the psychic paper and then at both the Doctor and Rose. He glanced down at Rose's clothes, and she shifted uncomfortably. The jeans and black strap top she'd put on when she woke up back at home weren't exactly the attire of a VIP guest, but then, the most she'd expected to do that day was some grocery shopping and maybe taking Tala to the park after school. Then the Doctor had announced that he needed to check something in the TARDIS, and from there they'd found themselves here.

Finally, the bell-boy handed the psychic paper back to the Doctor. A smile, completely fake, spread across his face. "Sir Doctor, Dame Rose, welcome to The Pleasure Dome, the experience of a lifetime. We hope you'll enjoy your visit. If you just step inside, someone will help you with the purchase of your tickets."

The Doctor pushed through the doors, Rose holding firmly onto his hand.

"Well, it's taken you a while, but I think you've finally got the hang of that." Rose grinned. Then something barreled into her legs and she almost overbalanced as she lost hold of the Doctor. She looked down to see a small boy, probably only about two, sitting on the floor, a dazed expression on his face. Rose recognized that look; it was the look Tala used to give her when she was still a little unsteady on her feet and had fallen over after bumping into something, a look that said "I know I'm on the floor but I don't quite know how I got here."

"Dante!" A heavily pregnant woman suddenly rushed across, dragging another two children by the hands. "Dante, I told you not to wander off!" She picked the little boy up and turned to Rose. "I'm so sorry!"

"It's alright," Rose insisted, not taking her eyes off of the little boy, who had started to wail half-heartedly now his mother had picked him up. "You look like you've got your work cut out there."

The woman smiled. "I know, it's a bit silly really, what with this little one on the way, but I mean, once she's born, I won't be able to afford to bring the kids here. At least this way, they won't charge me for her."

"I should think not!" Rose exclaimed.

The woman gave her a funny look. "Anyway, we better get back in line. Sorry again." She wrenched the hands of the other two children and headed back to a different counter. Rose watched them go.

"Rose?" The Doctor pulled on her hand. "Come on."

"I know, I just…" Rose wished she could shake this feeling off. It was like she had an ache somewhere, but she didn't know where it was exactly and she knew nothing in the world would stop it from hurting until she had Tala back with her again.

The Doctor suddenly leaned in close to her ear, so close that his breath tickled the hairs on her neck. "She'll be fine."

Rose nodded. "Yeah, I know. It's just…"

"She's fine." The Doctor nodded firmly. "Now come on. We need to get our tickets."

Rose joined him in a queue. "So where are we? And, you know, _when_?" She looked around. With its maroon carpet, glass-walled ticket booths and lines of harassed adults and children wound up on sugar, the room they were in had a lot in common with a cinema on a Saturday afternoon. It all seemed very normal.

The Doctor picked up a leaflet. "I'm not sure. Ah, here we go. The Pleasure Dome." He opened the leaflet up. Inside, instead of the static text Rose had been expecting, it was like a small television screen, paper-thin and showing an advert on a loop. The Doctor barely gave the white-toothed smarmy presenter a chance to welcome him to the Pleasure Dome, before he shut it and put it back onto the counter. He looked up at the high wall, where writing was inscribed in three foot letters and a fancy font.

"'In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure-dome decree'," he read. "Nice to know they still appreciate the classics."

"Is that… Wordsworth?" Rose made a guess, a stab in the dark really.

The Doctor looked at her fondly. "Close. Coleridge. Obviously a big selling point of this place, wherever we are." He put his hands into his pockets. "Let me have a think. The Pleasure Dome… I've never even heard of this place! Experience of a lifetime… you'd think I'd have at least _heard_ of it, wouldn't you?"

"Maybe you don't know everything," Rose suggested.

"Oh, I know I don't know _everything_, but this… this I should know about." The Doctor shook his head. "Something doesn't feel right about this place."

The queue moved and they found themselves in front of a pretty young blonde girl, all swishing hair and sparkly-eyed. She gave them the required smile dictated by management, then widened it as she registered the Doctor.

"Hi, how can I help you?" She was speaking only to the Doctor, her light Californian accent perfectly complimenting her honey-gold skin. Rose took an instant dislike.

"Hi, we're after tickets." The Doctor returned the smile, much to Rose's chagrin. "Two of them."

"Bronze, silver or gold?"

The Doctor leaned on the desk. "Erm, I'm not sure. Rose, what do you think?"

"Whatever." Rose shrugged, glaring at the sales assistant.

"What do you think… _Courtney?_" The Doctor read the name off the girl's badge, much to her delight, as the pony-like head tossing increased. "What do you suggest?"

"Well." Courtney looked around. "I'm not really supposed to say." She lowered her eyelashes in a way that made Rose roll her eyes.

"Aw, come on. Just for us." The Doctor turned those puppy-dog eyes on him. Rose felt a bit sick.

"Well." Courtney looked up through her lashes. "The gold is really just the silver with heated towels and dinner thrown in. I mean, it's a good deal, if that's what you want, plenty of our VIP customers enjoy that package…"

The Doctor nodded. "Silver it is then. Two."

Courtney beamed, delighted to have been of service. "Right. That's fourteen hundred dollars then."

"How much?" Rose almost yelled. "That's daylight robbery! Without the daylight!" she added as she threw a glare up at the solid ceiling and overhead strip lights.

"It's really a reasonable price," Courtney insisted. "It's our promotion week, you see, that's sixty percent off the usual selling price." She glanced at the Doctor. "I can downgrade you if you'd like, the bronze is only-"

"It's fine." The Doctor slid the psychic paper towards her. "See, Rose, it's fine. We've got that gift certificate your great-aunt Mildred sent you. It's fine."

Courtney typed in the details she was reading on the psychic paper. "You're not from round here, are you?" It sounded like a reasonable enough question, friendly even, but it was all directed at the Doctor.

"Not exactly," he agreed, not committing himself to an answer. "That's a nice accent you've got there, whereabouts are you from?"

"New Santa Monica." Courtney flashed her teeth at him again. "I was the first baby to be registered in the second Santa Monica."

"The second Santa Monica!" The Doctor sounded suitably impressed. "So that would make you…?"

"Twenty." Courtney produced two tickets. "Here you go. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No, thanks, we're good!" Rose took the tickets out of the girl's perfectly manicured hand and firmly linked her arm through the Doctor's. "Come on."

"Uh, thanks for all your help, Courtney, you have a lovely day!" The Doctor gave her a final big grin before being dragged away by Rose.

"What was that for?" he demanded. "I was being nice!"

"You were flirting!"  
"You always tell me I'm being rude!"

"You don't have to bat your eyelashes at someone to be nice!" Rose snapped.

The Doctor sighed. "Look, okay, maybe I was a bit-"

"Dancey?" Rose coined a new term.

The Doctor smiled and slipped an arm around her waist. "But I found out what I needed to know. It's the year two hundred thousand, two hundred and twenty. Give or take a few years."

"And you worked that out how?" Rose folded her arms sulkily as they joined yet another queue, this time for a lift.

"Oh, because I'm a genius." The Doctor glanced at Rose.

A smile involuntarily spread across Rose's face. "So where are we, _genius_?"

"I'm still working on that, give me some time." The Doctor took the tickets out of Rose's hand. "Let's have a look then. 'The Pleasure Dome, experience of a lifetime', etcetera, etcetera. 'Admits one adult'. 'Brought to you by…'" His brow furrowed.

"What?" Rose leaned over his shoulder. "What is it?" She looked from the ticket back to the Doctor. "What's wrong?"

The Doctor stabbed a finger at a line of the text on the ticket. "'Brought to you by Van Statten Ltd.'"

* * *

_**Next time: Sweet Thoughts**_

_**Toshiko +Bill Gates is the anti-christ+: **__So where did she come from? Why is she here?_

_Gwen chewed on her lip, and then noticed Owen watching her keenly from his desk. She hastily typed out a reply._

_**Gwen**__: She's just the daughter of a friend. He's looking after her for a while._

_**Owen +the doctor will see you now+:**__ Jacky-No-Mates has a friend?!_

_**Toshiko +Bill Gates is the Anti-Christ+:**__ That is a horrid nickname, Owen._

_**Owen +the doctor will see you now+:**__ I bet he calls me worse. Is she his?_

_**Gwen**__: No._

_**Owen +the doctor will see you now+:**__ Ah! So you asked him?_


	8. Sweet Thoughts

**I slaved over this chapter. Ate an excessive amount of Lovehearts for research. Never doing that again! Right, not gonna update again until chapter 13 is finished... shouldn't take too long, but not in the mood tonight and busy all day tomorrow... maybe Thursday.

* * *

**

With a yawn and an over-exaggerated sigh, Owen shattered the heavy silence which had hung over the Hub all morning. He stretched out, the leather on his chair creaking and squeaking as he leaned back in it and swung his feet up onto his desk.

"Is anyone else hot, or is it just me?"

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Are you ever going to get tired of that joke?"

"Who said I was joking?" Owen demanded, shooting her a cheeky grin, which showed she'd played directly into his hands. "That's your mind doing the work for you, Gwen, not me."

"That would only be because work is something you have no concept of," Gwen shot back. "Go and find something to do, stop bothering us."

"I've got nothing _to_ do!" Owen whined, tipping his head back so he was looking up at the ceiling. "I'm so bored! On a scale of one to ten, with one being not at all bored and ten being so bored I might die, I'm at an eleven!"

"Lucky you. Some of us have work to do."

"_Some_ of us did it yesterday while _some_ of us were off swanning around with Jack," Owen retorted.

"Oh not this again!" Toshiko groaned. "Just let it go, Owen!"

"What? I'm just taking a friendly normal interest in Jack's affairs." Owen shrugged and turned back to Gwen. "So, seeing as we're talking about Jack and all-"

"I wasn't!" Gwen pointed out.

"No, but I was. What's the deal with this Tala kid?"

Gwen pasted a blank look onto her face. "Don't know."

"Oh come on! You went to get the kid with him, you must know _something_!"

"I don't!" Gwen shook her head. "Owen, I've got work to do, just leave me alone! I'm not talking about this with you."

She turned back to her pile of paperwork which she could have sworn had multiplied over night. Maybe that was an alien thing they should investigate: the miraculous reproduction rates of Torchwood paperwork. Gwen would suggest it, except she knew what the outcome would be before she even began: yet more paperwork. The heat was even worse today, making it even harder to concentrate, and being tired enough to consider crawling under her desk and sleeping wasn't helping. She found her thoughts more and more often going up above, day-dreaming about a day in the sun, a pub-lunch, long lazy pints in a beer garden.

Her computer screen flicked back into life from the screen saver it had been running on for the last fifteen minutes, a slideshow of pictures of the Torchwood team. Now, a small box had popped up on screen.

**Owen +Doctor Love+ says**: Hi.

Gwen sighed with exasperation. "Owen!" Whenever he got behind that stupid instant messaging service, he always acted like he'd never seen a computer before, sending messages all over the place. "Owen, I really don't have time for this today!" There was no reply from him.

At least, no verbal reply.

**Owen +Doctor Love+:** You said you weren't gonna talk about it with me. So… type!

Reluctantly, Gwen typed a message back.

**Gwen +loves Rhys+:** That name is tragic.

**Owen +Doctor Love+:** And yours is so great?! The lady doth protest too much methinks…

**Owen +Minesweeper Champion!+:** Better?

**Gwen +loves Rhys+:** Hardly. Go away, I'm busy.

She turned back to her paperwork, realizing she'd just made a huge error in her expenses for that month, and scrawling a line through it. Then her computer pinged again.

**Owen +Minesweeper Champion!+:** Whatcha doing?

**Gwen +loves Rhys+:** Expenses.

**Owen +Minesweeper Champion!+:** Niiiiice.

**Owen +Minesweeper Champion!+:** What you putting in for?

**Gwen +loves Rhys+: **Petrol. Having to dry clean my jacket cause of that bloody pterodactyl. The usual.

**Owen +Minesweeper Champion!+:** How dull.

Gwen hated herself for replying again, it was just what he wanted. Not for the first time, she thought how like her sister's other child, a two-year-old boy with a distinct attention-seeking streak, he was.

**Gwen:** What did you put in for?

**Owen +Minesweeper Champion!+:** This and that.

Gwen firmly shoved the keyboard away from her, refusing to play this game any longer. She'd barely even picked her pen up before another message appeared on screen.

**Owen +Minesweeper Champion!+:** Well, if you're that interested…

**Gwen:** I'm not.

**Owen +Minesweeper Champion!+:** But you're still reading.

Gwen glanced away from the screen to see Owen, grinning all over his stupid face, from where he was sitting – no, _lounging_ – in his chair. She immediately turned away from the computer and tried to continue. For a few minutes, the harassment stopped and Gwen was able to finish filling in her expenses form, signing it at the bottom and putting it aside, ready to hand over to Ianto later. Now, the next job was to fill in yet another health and safety form, declaring that, yes, she'd been given the latest training by her health and safety rep. Gwen had no idea who that even was (though she suspected Toshiko was probably in the running) and hadn't received a bit of health and safety advice after Jack had advised her in her first week that, if she could, avoiding sleeping with Owen would be a step in the right direction. This was all Torchwood One's doing, she noticed, from the address in the top right-hand corner, and the instructions to "Call Phil if you have any problems" and a London extension number. For half a moment, she wondered what this Phil was like. It would be nice to talk to someone connected with Torchwood for once who wasn't off their rocker. She wondered if Phil was the guy to talk to about harassment in the workplace, and whether she could report Owen. She imagined Torchwood One would take it pretty seriously.

**Owen +Minesweeper Champion!+:** Anyway, as I was saying before you so rudely told me to shut up

**Gwen:** I didn't, actually.

**Owen +Minesweeper Champion!+:** As good as. Anyway, what me and Tosh were wondering was… hold on

**Toshiko +REAL Minesweeper Champion+ has just joined the conversation**.

**Gwen**: Hi Tosh.

**Toshiko +REAL Minesweeper Champion+ says**: Hey. How's the paperwork going?

**Gwen:** Slow. Nice name. Take note, Harper.

**Owen +the doctor will see you now+:** OK, enough with the pleasantries, Cooper. What's going on?

**Gwen:** Nothing, like I told you.

**Owen +the doctor will see you now+:** And we don't believe that, do we, Tosh?

**Toshiko +Bill Gates is the Anti-Christ+:** Much as I hate to agree with Owen, no. Where were you all day yesterday?

Gwen considered how much she could say. She'd told Jack she wouldn't tell them anything, but there were some things she felt sure could be disclosed without really breaking that promise.

**Gwen**: London.

**Toshiko +Bill Gates is the Anti-Christ+:** You drove to London and back?!

**Owen +the doctor will see you now+:** Alright, Tosh, it's not the moon or anything. Is that where Tala comes from then?

**Gwen:** Wow, no wonder you became a doctor, Owen, your intelligence knows no limits.

**Owen +the doctor will see you now+:** I'm choosing to ignore that sarcastic remark.

**Toshiko +Bill Gates is the anti-christ+: **So where did she come from? Why is she here?

Gwen chewed on her lip, and then noticed Owen watching her keenly from his desk. She hastily typed out a reply.

**Gwen**: She's just the daughter of a friend. He's looking after her for a while.

**Owen +the doctor will see you now+:** Jacky-No-Mates has a friend?!

**Toshiko +Bill Gates is the Anti-Christ+:** That is a horrid nickname, Owen.

**Owen +the doctor will see you now+:** I bet he calls me worse. Is she his?

Gwen: No.

**Owen +the doctor will see you now+:** Ah! So you asked him?

Gwen realised her mistake and tapped out a reply.

**Gwen**: No.

**Owen +the doctor will see you now+:** He volunteered information?

**Toshiko +Bill Gates is the Anti-Christ+**: Got to admit, Gwen, that doesn't sound like Jack.

**Gwen:** OK, maybe I asked. I was curious.

**Owen +the doctor will see you now+:** So what else did you find out?

**Gwen:** Nothing! And even if I did, what makes you think I'd tell you?!

**Owen +the doctor will see you now+:** She knows something.

**Gwen:** No I don't!

**Owen +the doctor will see you now+:** What do you reckon, Tosh?

**Toshiko +Bill Gates is the Anti-Christ+: **Leave her alone, Owen, she doesn't know anything. Sorry Gwen, didn't mean to disturb you.

**Gwen:** Not a problem.

**Toshiko +Bill Gates is the Anti-Christ+ has left the conversation.**

**Owen +the doctor will see you now+:** You're hiding something. And I'm going to find out what.

**Gwen**: Right, cause I'm that easy to get round, aren't I?!

**Owen +trust me, I'm a doctor+:** Well, you changed your name soon enough after I pointed it out. Anything you'd like to share?

**Gwen has left the conversation**.

* * *

Jack couldn't remember ever being so absorbed in another human being. Well, he could remember not being able to think about anyone else, but that was in very particular circumstances and only with certain people. This was different. He'd spent the best part of the day in Tala's company and he wasn't even partly bored with her yet. He'd barely spoken a word, apart from a question or two; Tala had carried the entire conversation, leaping from subject to subject, telling little anecdotes with a serious face which Jack found highly entertaining. As the day wore on, and the bag of sweets was slowly but efficiently reduced to just one packet of Lovehearts, she even began telling him stories about the adventures she'd been on with the Doctor. At first, she'd been hesitant, unsure over whether Jack should be allowed in on the secrets. By four o'clock though, it was like she'd known Jack her whole life, cheerfully chattering away about the TARDIS and other planets and the past and the future. She was so chatty in fact, that when Gwen put her head round the door at four-thirty, Jack had to quickly interrupt a particularly exciting sounding story about how the Doctor had decided the best way for Tala to learn about the Norman conquest was to visit it, and how that had led to a particularly confusing situation over exactly where the arrow destined for Harold's eye had in fact landed. Much as Jack wanted to hear the end of it, he was also highly aware that Gwen knew nothing of this time-travelling business, and he meant to keep it that way. She already knew too much, and though he trusted her, perhaps more than any of his other colleagues, for her own sake, he thought it best that what she didn't know remained that way. 

"Gwen! Finished your paperwork?"

Tala frowned at him. "I was talking. Mummy always says you shouldn't interrupt."

"Your mummy's right." Gwen gave Jack a teasing smile, delighted to see her boss being told off by a seven-year-old. "What does Mummy say when you interrupt, Tala?"

"Oh, I don't." Tala shook her head, her two plaits swinging from side to side. "Daddy does though."

Jack smiled. "Sounds like your daddy, alright." He raised his eyebrows at Gwen. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, I was just bringing my folder upstairs before I finished for the day." Gwen put the folder down on the desk. "The sweets went down well then?"

Tala nodded eagerly. "Thank you!"

"You won't have any room left for dinner," Gwen warned her.

Tala turned to Jack. "What is for dinner?"

Jack felt the smile die down off his lips. "Um, I hadn't actually thought that far ahead. Anyway, you've eaten two-thirds of a sweetshop today, you can't possibly still be hungry."

"My sweet tummy's full. But my dinner tummy's not," Tala informed him gravely.

Jack met Gwen's eyes as she tried not to laugh. It was all very well her being amused, she didn't have to magic some sort of nutritious meal out of nowhere. For the third time since he met Tala, he realised what a job parenting was.

"I'm going to the toilet," Tala decided now, slipping down off the desk. She looked at Jack. "I don't need you to come with me this time."

"Great." Jack grinned. "Mind the steps." He watched her walk down the steps and across the Hub floor to the door leading to the toilets, then he shut the office door and turned to Gwen. "Help."

Gwen folded her arms, smiling sadistically. "Oh, you're asking for my help now, are you?"

"Please! What the hell am I meant to cook for a seven-year-old?"

"I thought this childcare thing was a piece of cake," Gwen continued her mockery. "What was it you said? 'How hard can it be?'"

"Pizza?"

"After all those sweets and biscuits?" Gwen looked doubtful. "Does Rose want you to look after her daughter or kill her?" Jack shot her a look. "Okay, sorry, stupid choice of words. But, Jack, you should have thought about this before you agreed to bring Tala back with you!"

"I didn't have a choice."

"But you're hardly father of the year, are you?" Gwen pointed out.

Jack sat back down in his chair with a huge sigh. "I know, I know. What am I going to do?" He rested his head in his hands with an air of despair about him. Gwen had never seen him this way before, even on some of the trickier cases they'd tackled at Torchwood. He'd never given up like this before. It was almost amusing, how a man was able to deal with alien threats and killings and almost certain death with a calm expression and almost ruthless determination, but give him a seven-year-old to take care of and he fell apart. Captain Jack Harkness, who often seemed almost alien himself compared to the other members of Torchwood, was just as human as the rest of them really. It was that that made Gwen take pity on him.

"Oh, alright, you win, I'll take her for tonight."

Jack looked up from his hands. "What?"

"I said, I'll take Tala for tonight. I'll give her some dinner, she can stay over at my flat. Just for tonight though." She gave him a warning look. "Just until you pull yourself together."

Jack looked shame-faced. "Thanks, Gwen, you're…"

"Wonderful? Brilliant? An angel? A mug?" Gwen fired out a few suggestions.

"Amazing."

The word hung in the air awkwardly between them for a few seconds before Jack cleared his throat and stood up. "Right, I better get a few of Tala's things together for her."

Tala walked in the door and, having heard Jack's last words, looked from him to Gwen in alarm. "Am I going somewhere?"

Gwen didn't blame the poor kid for looking like that. The last few days must have been a real shock for her, losing her parents so suddenly and then being dragged halfway across the country by some guy she'd never met. Even stepping foot into Torchwood must have been strange; she'd thought Tala was coping a little too well.

"I thought you might like to come home with me tonight, help me get some dinner and maybe stay over," Gwen suggested. "Just for the night."

"What do you think?" Jack asked. "Sound good?"

Tala looked between them again, warily, like a creature caught in a trap. "Have I done something wrong?"

"What?" Jack looked horrified. "No! Honey, you don't have to go if you don't want, I just thought you might like some proper dinner. Not biscuits."

Tala considered the offer. "Will I be coming back?"

"As and when you want." Jack nodded.

Tala looked over at Gwen and then, slowly, nodded.

"Fantastic!" Gwen grinned. "Now, there's just two questions you need to answer, before we can go. Alright?" Tala nodded again. "Okay, first question. What's your favourite film?"

Tala answered without hesitation. "The Aristocats."

"Good choice." Gwen nodded. "Second question… this is the tough one, you ready for this?" Tala nodded, a small smile spreading across her face. "Do you like Honey Nut Loops?"

Tala looked at her, eyes narrowed, trying to work out what the correct answer was. "Yes…" she said finally.

Gwen paused a moment, before grinning again. "Correct answer. I think we're going to get on fine. Plus, you can try and help me convince my boyfriend Rhys that The Aristocats is one of the classics of all time." She gestured to Jack. "I'm just going to finish up downstairs, okay?"

Jack nodded. After she'd left the room he found himself still staring at the now empty doorway, until he felt a tugging on his hand.

"Uncle Jack, what will I need for a night at Gwen's?"

Jack tried to stop himself wondering the same question as he helped Tala collect some things together.

* * *

"You really didn't need to drive us home." 

Jack shifted gear to turn a corner and accelerated away, ignoring the blaring horn of the car he'd just cut up. "No trouble."

"No, I meant, you _really_ didn't have to." Gwen winced as they pulled up sharp at a zebra crossing to let a couple of city-working girls, clearly escaping from the office early, walk across. One caught Jack's eye and gave him a slow deliberate smile as she raised a hand to thank him. Jack returned her smile.

"Someone's got their mojo back," Gwen muttered, not meaning for anyone to hear her. She really needed to work on that volume level.

"Yeah baby!" Jack flashed her a cheesy grin.

"What's a mojo?" Tala piped up from the back, around a mouthful of sweets.

Gwen swallowed hard, trying to hide the blush that had crept up on her cheeks. Jack threw a glare in her general direction.

"Nothing, just a joke. Hey, give us some of those sweets! You're getting a nice cooked dinner, what am I going to have?"

Tala handed the packet of Lovehearts to Gwen, who took one whilst saying in an undertone, "I never promised a cooked dinner." She handed him the packet whilst she turned the sweet over in her hand. "'Cheer Up'. Delightful."

Jack glanced down at the one he'd pushed out of the packet. "'Looking Good'. Well, I do try." He sucked on the sweet experimentally as he pulled up, reluctantly, as an amber light changed to red. "This is… interesting." He pulled a face as the acidic taste hit the back of his throat. "Really… interesting. Are these supposed to be eaten?"

Gwen laughed. "They are a bit of an acquired taste. I had a bit of a thing for them a few years ago." She reached out to take the packet out of his lap. "Take it you won't be wanting anymore then?"

"I didn't say that!" Jack made a grab for the packet. His hand closed around Gwen's, and for a second they both froze. Then Gwen dropped the packet and withdrew her hand. The car behind honked. "Oh, fu…" Jack caught his tongue before he could say anymore as he remembered Tala in the back, and instead slammed the car forwards.

They continued in silence, the only sound was Tala crunching her way through the Loveheart in her mouth. Finally, after what seemed like forever, they stopped outside Gwen's apartment block.

"Thanks." Gwen undid her seatbelt. "Like I said, there was no need. We could have walked."

Jack ignored her and turned to look at Tala instead. "Right. Now, remember what I said. Anytime you want to come back, even if it's the middle of the night, whatever. Just call."

Tala nodded, but could hardly contain her excitement at being outside again. She undid her seat belt and then sat impatiently as Gwen got out the car and opened the door for her. The sun was still warm, casting long shadows across the car park, and Tala looked up at the blue sky as if she'd forgotten what daylight was like.

Gwen leaned back in the car window. "She'll be fine. It'll be good for her, a change of scene. It's probably all a bit much for her down in the Hub. This is more normal."

Jack nodded, but his eyes never left Tala's back as she looked around her. "If there are any problems, if Rhys doesn't want her staying or anything, if anything happens-"

"Jack," Gwen cut him off. "It'll be fine. Rhys won't care. And nothing will happen." Then she relented. "But if anything does, I'll be straight on the phone to you. So. Don't. Turn. Your. Phone. Off." She did her best impression of Jack's usual parting orders when they left work after a long day.

Jack grinned. "Nice. Not quite as good as your Owen, but getting there. Tala!" Tala turned to look at him. "Be good. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you, Jack." Gwen turned to leave.

"Gwen!" She turned back. Jack leaned over the seat and handed her a sweet. "Only two left. I'm watching my weight." He started the engine again. "Stay out of trouble." He roared away.

Gwen looked down at the sweet in her hand. 'Sweet Dreams'.

* * *

"Babe! You're home early!" Rhys called from the living room as Gwen opened the door. She could hear the sounds of a tea-time cooking show against the clock on the TV. "I'm just watching this, some good stuff we could have for dinner." 

"Really?" Gwen put her head into the living room. "That's great."

Rhys grinned at her and then noticed Tala behind her. He frowned, but didn't say anything.

"Oh, Rhys, this is Tala. Tala, this is my boyfriend Rhys." She steered the little girl into the room, putting her hands on her shoulders. "She's going to stay with us. Just for tonight." Over Tala's head she mouthed "sorry" to Rhys.

Rhys almost imperceptibly shrugged her apology off. "Hi Tala."

Tala didn't reply, looking up at him shyly.

"Tala, why don't you go and put your stuff in my room?" Gwen suggested over-cheerfully. "It's just down the hall."

Tala shuffled out of the room, taking her small red rucksack with her, trailing Cat along the floor. Gwen waited until she was just out of earshot before turning back to Rhys.

"I'm so sorry, babe, I should have called ahead and let you know," she continued her apologies.

"Who is she?" Rhys asked. "And whose is she?"

Gwen wondered how she would ever be able to explain this one. After a moment's thought, she decided to go with the tried and tested method of lying.

"She's my boss's daughter. He's… he's sort of going through a messy break-up, stressed out and everything. I said we'd look after her, just for tonight, while he sorts himself out." God, this would make a good anecdote to share with Jack. "Honestly, babe, I just sort of offered, I didn't think… He said if there were any problems to call him and he'd come and get her straight away-"

"Gwen." Rhys silenced her. "There's no problem. It's just… well, I've heard of taking your work home, but this is a bit ridiculous. I hope he'll repay you for the favour."

Gwen snorted. "I doubt it! He's not that kind of boss."

Rhys smiled. "Only problem is… where's she going to sleep?"

Bugger.

* * *

_**Next time: All that glitters**_

"_That's a bit sinister," Rose remarked._

"_Why do you say that?" The Doctor put the sonic screwdriver away and looked over at her._

_Rose shrugged. "I don't know. I've always thought automated things are a bit sinister. Out of our control." She looked at the grill. "Can't you override it?"_

"_I hardly want to draw attention to the fact that my screwdriver can do a whole lot more than put flat-packs together," the Doctor pointed out._


	9. All That Glitters

As VIP members, they were entitled to a private lift. Rose managed to hold off all her questions until they were safely inside the lift and the doors had slid smoothly closed.

"Van Statten? But we know he left his place, he went missing! Just… disappeared!"

"No one just disappears, Rose," the Doctor reminded her as he pulled the sonic screwdriver out and squinted at the controls on the lift. Or, more accurately, lack of controls. He ran the screwdriver over the grill where, ordinarily, there would be buttons to take whoever was in the lift wherever they pleased. "Automated."

"That's a bit sinister," Rose remarked.

"Why do you say that?" The Doctor put the sonic screwdriver away and looked over at her.

Rose shrugged. "I don't know. I've always thought automated things are a bit sinister. Out of our control." She looked at the grill. "Can't you override it?"

"I hardly want to draw attention to the fact that my screwdriver can do a whole lot more than put flat-packs together," the Doctor pointed out. He shook his head. "Anyway, where would we go?"

Rose shrugged. "Anywhere."

"We need to find out where we are." The Doctor shoved his hands into his pockets. "This all feels so familiar, what is it?" He was getting more and more irritated by his inability to remember what exactly it was that made him certain he'd seen this place before. Too many memories to search through. He was getting old.

Rose tentatively brought up the issue again. "But… Van Statten?"

The Doctor ran a hand over his face. "It must be a different person."

"Well, duh! It's hardly going to be the same man unless he's found himself a timeship…" Rose's eyes widened in horror. "Oh my God, what if he has?"

"No, he wasn't interested in traveling," the Doctor insisted. "He just wanted things to come to him, cold and dead and sterile. He wouldn't cope with reality."

"But still… Van Statten."

The Doctor sighed heavily. "A great-great-great-great etc. grandson? Daughter? Distant relative? You're right. Too much of a coincidence. It just gets better doesn't it?"

Rose squeezed his hand tight. "Were you expecting anything else? It's us."

The Doctor smiled. "Good point. But I still don't get what this place is…"

The lift doors glided open. In front of them was a doorway, with a screen in the front of it. The Doctor walked towards it.

"'Please swipe your ticket here,'" he read. "Wow, they're security conscious here." He swiped his ticket. On the screen flashed up "Welcome Sir Doctor." The Doctor nodded. "I could get used to that title." The door opened.

Rose followed suit and they both ducked through the door quickly, anxious to stay together. They found themselves in another room, with another door at the end of it. The thing they both noticed as they stepped into it was the overpowering whiteness of the entire room.

"Wow, they must have some awesome cleaners," Rose remarked as they stepped into it further. The walls, floor and ceiling were all perfect white, like an advert for paint. It almost hurt her eyes to look around. The only spots of colour in the room came from yet another long queue of people waiting in the room. This time there was no second queue to join with the help of the psychic paper; it was a free for all here. The good, the bad and the rich joined together.

"Curiouser and curiouser," the Doctor remarked as they joined the queue. "I know you humans enjoy queuing but this is getting a bit ridiculous."

"Look." Rose pointed. "People are coming out that door as well as going in." She was right; the door at the far end was more like a revolving turnstile than a real door. As one group of people entered it, another group came out, initially looking annoyed, and then blinking furiously, confusion coming over their faces, before circling the room and joining the queue again at the end. Without failure, every group that had entered in the short time they had been in the room had returned through the door only minutes later. The queue was moving quickly, and within a few minutes, Rose and the Doctor found themselves at the head of the line, where a screen told them to "Please wait".

"Well, this is jolly." The Doctor pulled a face. "You're right, automated things do feel sinister."

"You know, that's twice in the last few minutes you've said I'm right," Rose remarked. "I could get used to it."

The screen suddenly flashed: "Sir Doctor, Dame Rose, you may enter."

"In we go." The Doctor led the way and pushed through the door. "Okay, is this place just a whole load of mirrors?" he demanded as they came out in another white room, just like the one they'd left, except for a table, also white, in the middle of the floor which had three caskets on it. One was made of gold, one of silver and one of lead.

"Is this some sort of reality TV show?" Rose asked, looking around and trying to find a video camera hidden in a corner of the room. "Is Jeremy Beadle going to jump out in a minute? Or, you know, great-great-great grand-nephew Jeremy Beadle?"

"No. I think it's an adventure park." The Doctor slipped his glasses on to read the screen inset into the table. "Listen. 'Welcome to Realm 1, The Realm of Riches. In front of you are three caskets, one of gold, one of silver and one of lead. Choose wisely and progress. Else, face the prospect of déjà vu.'"

Rose looked at the caskets in front of them. "What do we have to do? Choose one?"

"Well, not _any_ one. The right one. Or we have to go back out and try again. I assume."

"A one in three chance. That's not too hard, I mean, after you've got it wrong twice, you won't get it wrong again," Rose said, looking at the caskets again.

The Doctor frowned. "Yeah. Except… well, what's the point in that? It's hardly a big tough task is it, you have to do it again. Big wow."

Rose shrugged. "How hard do you want it?"

The Doctor looked around. "I don't know, I just… I don't get a good feeling about this place, do you?"

Rose looked around too, and she had to admit that the stark white walls and the bright lights were a little intimidating. "I don't know. It's not a very fun place."

"Exactly! And yet people are bring their kids here, it's a family fun-day out!" the Doctor agreed. "Can you imagine if we brought…?" He tailed off, much to Rose's dismay. He looked her in the eye, his brown eyes clearly showing his own regret at not being able to say what had been on the tip of his tongue. "Anyway, like you said, it's not very fun. That's what's getting me about it, it's so…" He struggled for the right word.

"Creepy," Rose supplied it.

"You can say that again." The Doctor looked again at the screen. "It's that word. Déjà vu. Do you know what it means?"

"Sure. You've seen something before."

"It means you feel like you've been somewhere before, somewhere entirely new to you." The Doctor glanced back at the door and walked over to it, placing his hands either side of the door-frame and sniffed at it deeply. "Hello. This is familiar."

Rose started anxiously. "Oh, Doctor, don't-" She slumped as his poked his tongue out and ran it along the wall. "-lick the wall. Seriously, that's a real problem you've got, you should really see someone about it."

The Doctor appeared not to hear her as he thoughtfully tasted his tongue. "That's…No! No, it can't be!" He stepped back from the wall. "No no no no no no! This place is worse than we thought!"

"What is it?"

"Retcon. A memory loss drug, it's been outlawed all over by this time in history, forced onto the black market." The Doctor wiped his tongue on his hand. "And yet they're using it here, make people forget they were ever in this room. That explains why people looked so confused as they stepped outside."

"But you've just licked it," Rose pointed out. "Won't it affect you?"

"Not that small amount. It was condensation. They must be giving it them in gas form." The Doctor shook his head. "People could end up stuck out there forever, just doing this same Realm over and over again."

"For how long?"

The Doctor looked at her. "Forever. Every time they step back out there, they get Retconned again."

Rose gulped. "Then…we better get it right."

At that moment, an impersonal American voice broke into their thoughts. "One minute left to complete this Realm."

Rose looked at the Doctor in alarm. "What? There's a time limit?" She darted to the screen and noticed the count down timer in the corner of the screen. "Doctor, how did you not notice that?"

"I can't be expected to notice everything!" the Doctor said huffily.

"What are we going to do? We can't go back out there!"

The Doctor stepped forward. "Let's think. Okay, pick one, easy, but which one?" He walked round the table, pacing like a caged animal.

"The lead one! We did this at school, in some play. It was the lead one, it's always the one you least expect." She made to lunge towards the lead casket, but the Doctor intercepted her.

"No, that's what they want you to think. Shakespeare's enjoying a revival around about now too, everyone knows that all that glitters isn't gold." He frowned. "But this place doesn't."

"What do you mean?"

"You heard what Courtney said, the golden was just the silver with a few minor extras. They think if they put a gold sticker on something it makes it more valuable." The Doctor hesitated, his hands hovering over the golden casket. "This is the one. I'm certain."

"How certain?" Rose asked, as she saw the timer flick down to ten seconds.

"Well, hopeful," the Doctor corrected himself. "Ready?"

Rose caught at his arm and nodded. "Do it."

The Doctor pulled the lid off of the golden casket. The lights flickered, but nothing else happened.

"Is that… good?" Rose asked in a small voice.

The American voice broke in again. "You chose the golden casket."

"Yes, and?" The Doctor said impatiently.

"That was…."

"Oh God I hate it when they do this!" Rose grimaced.

"…the correct answer. Congratulations. You may advance to Realm 2."

A door they hadn't even noticed on the other side of the table slid open.

"We did it." Rose's jaw dropped. "Oh my God, we did it!"

"No need to sound so surprised, Rose." The Doctor stepped forward calmly towards the door. "I had it under control."

Rose caught up with him. "Yeah? Well next time, try and be a bit more obvious about this under controlness, yeah?"

"Rose, have I ever let you down?" The Doctor turned to her suddenly, as the door closed behind them.

Rose scoured her thoughts. "Well, you did manage to get lost for the first five years of-"

"Yes, alright!" The Doctor interrupted her. "That was a mistake anyway. But apart from that."

Rose shook her head slowly.

"And I'm going to get us out of here." The Doctor took her hand firmly in his. "So. Come on. Realm 2."

* * *

"Bit repetitive this place," the Doctor remarked as he scanned his ticket again and the familiar welcome message flashed up. "Even without the Retcon added in."

Rose pushed him through the door, a little annoyed at his still slightly flippant tone after everything they'd seen already. As he'd predicted, the room they found themselves in was as glaringly white as the last one, with an almost identical queue of people and the same revolving door at the end. To her dismay, there was even the same play of emotions on peoples' faces as they came out of the door. More Retcon.

"If this is a theme park, I prefer Thorpe Park," Rose decided. "At least it's a bit more creative. And there's sunlight, my head's killing me with all this artificial light."

As if he'd been lurking by them all along, a vendor with a cart suddenly piped up, "Drink of water, ma'am?"

Rose glanced at the Doctor, who shifted his head slightly, meaning _no_.

"I'm fine thanks." Rose gave the man a cheerful smile. She looked at the cart, laden with all sorts of food and drink. "Have you got to shift all of that today?"

The man looked at the cart. "Oh, that's not all of it."

Rose's eyebrows flew up. "There's more? Are you giving it away?"

"No." The man looked at her as though she'd gone mad, something Rose was slowly getting used to in this place. "I've got to get on. Sorry ma'am." He pushed the cart on and almost immediately sold a family of two parents and five children a host of sweets, sandwiches, crisps and drinks.

"Must be made of money," Rose remarked. "Did you see the prices he was charging?"

The Doctor nodded. "I wouldn't fancy eating or drinking anything here though." He wiped his tongue on his hand again. "You know, even diluted, this stuff tastes awful."

"How comes people don't notice?"

"You humans. Oblivious to all but the obvious."

"No need to take your annoyance out on us, though," Rose retorted. Abusing other species when he was angry was something he'd never grown out of.

Again the line moved quickly as people answered whatever task lurked behind that door in a matter of moments, only to be flung back out again, with no memory of ever having been in there. Within minutes of arriving in the room, the Doctor and Rose entered the room at the far end. It was in darkness as they stepped in, Rose keeping close behind the Doctor. It wasn't that she was scared of the dark, it was just… well, she didn't entirely trust it. She knew how Tala felt sometimes when she woke up in the dead of night; being able to see what was coming at you was always better than not.

"Do you… do you think there's been a power cut or something?" Rose whispered, burying her nose slightly in his shoulder, breathing in the warm scent of him. Just the smell of him carried her far away from this moment now, so far from home and everything she knew. It reminded her of summer evenings in the park, watching as Tala played on the swings, and Sunday afternoons curled up on her mum's sofa after a particularly large lunch. It brought back memories of winter mornings when she'd slip under the duvet and snuggle closer for _just five more minutes_ sleep. The almost entirely normal life they'd lived for the last two years. She'd loved every second.

The Doctor didn't have a chance to answer before the lights flickered on, in all their white glory.

And Rose screamed at what she saw.

* * *

_**Next time: Decisions, decisions**_

"_You know, I hate it when they say that."_

_Owen almost jumped out of his skin, his feet slipping off of his desk, as Jack spoke from behind him. He hastily leaped to mute the television feed he'd been watching on his computer._

"_I thought you'd gone out," he said sheepishly._

_Jack seemed not to notice. "I mean, 'hottest April on record'. They should add 'yet' on the end. Because 2069… that April is a killer."_


	10. Decisions, decisions

**Homage to The Breakfast Club in this chapter, possibly my fave movie ever. Thanks for the reviews so far, hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**

* * *

**"_It's been another scorching day down in Cardiff today. Scientists claim this is another consequence of global warming, and as the temperatures across the world increase, making this the hottest April on record, the impacts we've been warned about are making themselves evident. The second largest iceberg in Antarctica has begun melting rapidly, and flood experts are warning low lying countries to be on red-alert. In Cardiff, however, the hot weather has had some positive effects. David Jones is just outside Cardiff at the Blaidd Drwg Holiday Park, where business is booming..."_

"You know, I hate it when they say that."

Owen almost jumped out of his skin, his feet slipping off of his desk, as Jack spoke from behind him. He hastily leaped to mute the television feed he'd been watching on his computer.

"I thought you'd gone out," he said sheepishly.

Jack seemed not to notice. "I mean, 'hottest April on record'. They should add 'yet' on the end. Because 2069… _that_ April is a killer."

Owen and Toshiko both turned to look at their leader, frowning. They caught each other's eye. _Did he just say what I think he said?_

"Finished all your work, then, Owen?" Jack glossed over the silence.

Owen pulled a face. "Well, you know, I am quite a hard-worker-"

"Okay, cut the bullshit." Jack rolled his eyes. "You can go home then. Only remember to leave-"

"My phone on?" Owen suggested, as though it was a new idea. "Funny you should say that, I've never heard that before."

Jack grinned. "Alright, go on! Get gone."

Owen whooped and began piling his desk up again, shoving the paperclip chain he'd spent half the afternoon making back into a drawer. He liked days like today; when nothing had happened at work and they were able to go home, almost safe in the knowledge in that they wouldn't get dragged away from their evening's entertainment. And this evening was even better; he actually had a _choice_ over what to do. An old university friend was in town and had given him a call to see if he fancied a quick catch up pint or two in a pub showing the European football game. Owen had almost said yes straight away, before realizing that he didn't really have a lot to contribute to a catch-up discussion. Mark had gone in pharmacology after his medical degree and had a pharmaceuticals job, trialing new drugs out. He had a swanky house in one of the best streets in London and an apartment in Spain. His wife had just had their second son. Compared with that, Owen didn't have much to say. No wife. No kids. Just the one (though rather large) apartment in Cardiff. A second-hand name of car . He couldn't even boast about the things he did in his job; though there was no written rule that employees didn't talk about Torchwood, the nature of the job sort of guaranteed that no one ever would. It was that sudden recognition that, as far as the general world went, Owen Harper had no life, nothing to show for the years that had passed between university and now, that made him dither and say that he'd try and make it down.

His other option tonight went by the name of Claire. They'd been on a few dates so far, nothing serious, just the occasional dinner or a drink, usually ending up back at Owen's place; he'd seen her poky flat which she said she shared with two other girls and he had no desire to spend more time than strictly necessary there. It had been over a week since they'd last seen each other, and she'd sent him a breezy text last night when he'd been a bit too tied up to reply immediately. Well, he assumed she was aiming for a breezy tone, though he always thought that girls that texted between dates were a bit desperate. She'd suggested they meet up "mayb. Its cool if ur busy, b gd 2 c u tho. Let me kno xxx". The xs were possibly a bit try hard too, and Owen had never really liked people who wrote texts like they were fourteen-year-old girls with their first mobile phones, but he was willing to forgive all that. She was good fun, was Claire. Pretty in a sort of unobtrusive way: she was never going to win any sort of beauty pageant, but she had a certain something about her. She liked football, or at least pretended to, and seemed to be as easy-going about this whole relationship as Owen was. Only problem was… well, Claire was a fat girl's name. Owen had nothing against fat people _per se_ but he had no desire to date one. And whilst at the moment Claire was quite a long way from fat, he could see just from looking at her that she had definite potential for piling on the pounds. It wasn't like he was expecting to be with her for the long haul or anything, none of his relationships ever quite managed that. But it unnerved him that, if he did find himself with her for any length of time, that she would almost certainly begin gaining weight, and then it would be really awkward to extricate himself from the situation without being all un-PC.

On reflection, maybe a Torchwood emergency would be preferable to those options. He'd never be able to admit that though.

"Take a look at this, Jack." Toshiko beckoned him over, disturbing Owen's thoughts. She was pointing at her computer where she'd been typing away for the past hour or so that Owen had had his feet up watching the local news and weather. There was nothing quite like local news, Owen had always thought; it was amazing the things some people considered newsworthy. Only last week he'd watched a report about sheep-racing, two words he'd never thought he'd ever hear in a sentence together, let alone only being separated by a hyphen.

Jack leaned on the back of her chair as he looked at the screen. "What am I looking at?"

"I've been exploring the world-wide weather forecasting units." Toshiko brought a map up on screen. "Basically, I've compiled a database of local temperatures from all over the world-"

"Is this some sort of hobby of yours?" Owen interjected.

Toshiko carried on as if he hadn't spoken. "Not just the major cities but the smaller towns too. Then I've transfigured the data into a visual representation of the trends globally-"

"But what am _I_ looking at?" Jack asked again.

Toshiko realised she'd begun explaining in increasingly complicated terms again. "Right, sorry. This is a map of the temperatures worldwide. And its interesting stuff."

Jack looked again at the screen. "I take it red means hot?"

Toshiko nodded. "You'd normally expect a band of red around the equator and maybe in a few other hotspots, then a steady decrease towards the two poles, with maybe a few anomalies around major cities or mountain ranges."

Jack nodded. "Yeah, I remember geography." He pointed at a few red spot scattered across the map. "So what are these then?"

"That's what I wanted to show you." Toshiko clicked on one of the spots, in north-eastern America. "It's April, spring in New England. And yet the temperatures are up in the nineties, it's like a particularly hot summer up there."

Jack frowned. "That's… strange."

Toshiko nodded. "Exactly. Even stranger, the temperature is concentrated in one area, it's one particular spot that's so hot, and then it all drops off gradually from there. No reason for the anomaly, it's out in the countryside."

Owen joined them at the computer. "Is it just there, or are there other spots?"

Toshiko drew them back out to the main map and double-clicked on the United Kingdom. "How about Cardiff?"

Owen stared at what she was showing them. "There's one of those hotspots in Cardiff?"

"Not exactly _in_ Cardiff, but close by." Toshiko zoomed in. "Exactly the same gradient. The rest of the UK is hot, it's small enough to still be in the fallout from this hotspot. But Cardiff's the hottest bit. In fact, compared to normal average temperatures for this time of year, it's the top spot for the temperature difference."

Jack spoke up. "Any natural reason for it? Solar flares, a freak high pressure system?"

Toshiko shook her head. "No, that would be more widespread. This is localized."

Jack studied the screen intently. Eventually, he spoke. "Right. Well, it's nothing serious yet, is it? I mean, a bit of nice weather, god knows you Brits deserve some once in a while. Keep an eye on it, Tosh, thanks for pointing it out to us. Monitor it for a few days, see if anything changes." He stepped back from the computer and then realised that Owen was still there. "I thought you were going."

"Yeah, I was. I mean, I am. See you guys tomorrow." He'd made a decision; the last in the series of Lost was on, and even though, somehow, Jack had already managed to ruin the ending of season seven for him, it was still a marginally better option than the previous two. A night in by himself. Wonderful.

* * *

It was only the solution, but Gwen still knew that it wasn't ideal. Rhys had disappeared off to the sofa with one of her pillows and a spare duvet, giving her a brief peck on the cheek. For two nights in a row, they'd spent the night apart. If Gwen hadn't felt like she was about to crash right there and then, she'd have felt more regret that she wasn't able to feel his warm presence beside her in the night, an arm draped over her comfortingly, murmured goodnights into the pillow. Torchwood was starting to take over her life in more ways than one. 

Rhys had cooked dinner, with the few things he could find in the cupboards. Yet another thing Gwen had let him down on; she'd said she'd bring home dinner. Mind you, she'd suggested in her note this morning that he could do some shopping and that hadn't materialized either. So she supposed, on the scoreboard of Rhys v. Gwen: Who's in the doghouse?, Rhys hadn't kept an entirely clean sheet.

At eight o'clock, having noted Tala's dazed expression, and having almost dislocated her own jaw in yawning, Gwen decided to call it a night. Rhys had taken the news well, hadn't complained once. He was a good man.

So now Gwen slid into bed alongside Tala. The little girl was watching her with those big eyes now, looking a little like those bushbabies on nature programmes.

"Aren't you tired?" Gwen asked, shifting uncomfortably, missing that extra pillow.

Tala nodded.

"Close your eyes and go to sleep then," Gwen advised.

Tala just watched her, her eyes staying firmly and resolutely open.

Gwen thought back over everything she'd ever learnt about children. A four-times-yearly visit to Aberyswyth where her sister lived hadn't given her much experience, but it was better than nothing. Anyway, it was clear what Tala needed. She needed to talk, and to have someone talk back and tell her everything would be all right. Whatever Jack said about her, whatever status he'd elevated her to, she was still just a seven-year-old in a strange city with strange people.

Gwen ceased her wriggling and rested her head on her pillow, her face only inches from Tala's. "You should really get some sleep, Tala," she said softly. "You've had an exciting few days."

In a tiny voice, Tala suddenly said, "When can I go home?"

Gwen felt her stomach contract painfully as the little girl's chin wobbled and her dark eyes filled with tears.

"Oh sweetheart, soon!" Gwen insisted, pulling her into a hug. "We've just got to wait for your mummy and daddy to get back, then you can go straight home." And things could return to some sense of normality around here, or that was the theory.

"But when?"

"Soon."

"Tomorrow?"

Gwen stroked Tala's hair. "Probably not tomorrow."

"Friday?"

Gwen realised that Tala was going to keep asking until she gave her the right answer. She lifted her head up to look her in the eye. "I don't know exactly when." Tala's face fell. "But," Gwen continued, "I do know that they'll be here as soon as they can. I know that wherever they are, they'll be fighting to get back to you, because they love you." She rubbed Tala's back comfortingly. "I promise you, sweetheart, they'll be here as soon as they can. And in the meantime, you've got Uncle Jack to look after you. And me, and Owen and Toshiko and Ianto."

"What about Nana?"

Gwen had actually momentarily forgotten about Jackie. She couldn't explain why, but she'd almost all but forgotten that Tala had another home to go to until she'd asked just then. It was strange; it felt like Tala had always been there, like she had been a part of all their lives for so long. An inconvenient part in many ways, and one that was still causing trouble, but something that had been there as long as time itself. Rather like Torchwood. But, also like Torchwood, she just felt… right. Like she belonged there.

"Your nana's back in London, remember?"

Tala nodded. "She told me to be good."

"And you are being, so good." Almost unhealthily good. Gwen's niece was a bit of a tearaway; if she'd been thrown into a situation like Tala was in, Gwen had no doubt that Charlotte would have kicked off long ago, throwing things and screaming for her mummy. Tala had taken it all in her stride so far, accepting everything about Torchwood without question. Gwen supposed that it wasn't an entirely unusual situation for the child; being half-alien had to help with adapting to circumstances like these, but even so. Now that Tala was finally behaving a little more like a normal seven-year-old, Gwen couldn't help feeling relieved.

"Was I bad, is that why Nana sent me away?"

Gwen wondered if anyone had ever explained any of this to Tala. She'd seemed so comfortable with being taken somewhere by Jack, even though she'd never met him. Gwen had assumed that, at some stage in her short life, Tala had had this whole bizarre scenario explained to her, though she dreaded to think how Rose and the Doctor would have sat their only child down and talked about what might happen to her one day if they got abducted or whatever had happened. It wasn't exactly a cheerful night-time story.

"Of course not. She just thought that with your mummy and daddy gone, you'd be safer here with Uncle Jack." Though judging by Jack's efforts so far, whilst Tala might be safe from alien attacks whilst at Torchwood Three, Gwen doubted her general day-to-day welfare was much improved. Maybe Tala needed to at least speak to Jackie, just to let her realize that she'd done absolutely nothing wrong in this whole mess. "Tell you what, we can call your nana in the morning. Just to let her know you're alright. I'm sure she's missing you too." She was surprised Jack hadn't thought of it himself, actually, but then again, he'd never been exactly top of the class when it came to people-skills.

Tala looked up at her again. "Really?"

"Really." Gwen squeezed her tight.

Tala smiled and fell silent for a while. Gwen, having only got two hours sleep the previous night, was just dozing off when she spoke again. "Uncle Jack's nice."

"Mmm," Gwen agreed sleepily, her head resting on top of Tala's, breathing in the sweet apricot smell of her shampoo. "He is."

"So's Rhys," Tala decided, snuggling closer. "Night night."

"Night." Gwen was suddenly wide awake and wondering how a seven-year-old girl had managed to articulate the thoughts that ran through her own head every second of every day.

* * *

Gwen stumbled out into the living room, her hair typically a mess and looking at the world through half-closed eyes. Yet again she'd had passed the night in fitful bursts of sleep, waking up with a sudden jolt and only narrowly avoiding waking Tala, who hadn't released her hold on Gwen all night. She felt awful, her stomach was churning and her head was pounding. The smell of Rhys's burnt toast as she entered the kitchen almost put her off the very idea of having even a cup of coffee. 

"Morning." Rhys planted a kiss on the side of her head. "Sleep alright?"

Gwen raised her eyebrows at him. "Do I look like I slept well?"

Rhys pulled a face. "Didn't like to say it, but you look pretty rough. You feel okay?" He put a hand on her forehead experimentally.  
Gwen batted it away, smiling wearily. "Since when did you become a doctor? I'm fine, just a bit tired." She flicked the kettle on and pulled the lid off the coffee pot. "We're out of coffee." She glanced at the already-half empty cup on the worktop.

Rhys winced. "Sorry, babe, I didn't think." He pushed it towards her. "You can have it if you like."

Gwen waved it away. "No, it's fine. I'll get one at work. We're really need to go shopping, you know, this is getting pathetic. We're living like students."

Rhys nodded as he tucked into his toast, spilling crumbs all down the grey t-shirt he'd slept in. "Sure. I'll go tonight after work." He jerked a thumb towards the bedroom. "Tala still asleep?"

Gwen nodded. "She's been out for the count all night."

"She looks sweet when she's asleep." Gwen tilted her head curiously, and Rhys hastily explained. "I came in to grab my phone when I got up, I suddenly remembered where I'd left it." He nudged Gwen playfully. "You looked very sweet too."

"I try." Gwen yawned widely. "I can't wait for this evening. A long bath and then bed."

"I might join you," Rhys joked.

Gwen smiled. "That would be nice."

Rhys turned his back as he put the plate and cup into the sink. "You know, I was thinking. It was nice last night, with Tala."

Gwen stifled another yawn as she leaned against the worktop, half-sleep again. Harsh as it seemed, she was already regretting telling Rhys he could join her with her evening's activities; all she wanted to do was sleep. This job was getting ridiculous.

"Yeah, it was," she agreed.

"I suppose Tala will be going home again today?"

Gwen nodded. "Yep. I told my boss just one night. Don't want him taking advantage." Why was it that whatever she ever said about Jack, it always sounded like a double-entendre?

Rhys nodded. "Right. Yeah, good, you look done in."

Gwen smiled. "The joys of parenthood. Even part-time semi-parenthood." She glanced at the clock on the wall. "I should probably get Tala some breakfast or I'll be late for work. You better get a move on too."

"Yeah, I will," Rhys said as Gwen turned to open the cupboards and pull out one of the many packets of Honey Nut Loops. He looked down at the floor, tracing the patterns on the tiles with his bare feet. "Only, I was thinking-"

"Careful!" Gwen flashed him a teasing grin. "You'll do some damage."

Rhys smiled. "Yeah, I know. The thing is though, I was thinking…" He tailed off.

Gwen turned to look at him. "Well? Spit it out, Rhys, it's too early for games like this."

Rhys took a deep breath. "I was thinking maybe it was time we started thinking about kids. I mean, having some. Our own, I mean, not like babysitting or anything, actually-"

Gwen interrupted him, finding her voice again after a moment's shock. "Yeah, Rhys, I get it."

Silence reigned over the kitchen.

Rhys stood up from where he'd been lounging and awkwardly made to move out of the kitchen. "Well, anyway, it was just a thought, don't worry about it. You obviously don't agree."

"No, it's not that," Gwen protested.

"It's fine. Silly time to bring it up, we don't need to talk about this right now." Rhys leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. "Forget I said anything, babe. I'll fix Tala's breakfast if you go and get her up. Then I'll need to jump into the shower and get going, okay?"

Gwen nodded and made her way back to the bedroom, far more awake now than when she'd left it. Tala was _definitely_ going home tonight.

* * *

_**Next time: Proceed**_

"_Question Three. In old Earth children's stories-"_

"_You might even get this, Rose." The Doctor nudged her excitedly._

"_Alright, no need to sound quite so patronizing," Rose muttered._

"_- which character, whose name consists of two alliterative adjectives and a noun, completes the following phrase: 'Who's afraid of the…?'"_


	11. Proceed

Burnished steel stood in front of them, seven foot of the stuff, formed into an Art Deco style figure. It was clearly modeled upon human form, but was so far removed from a real human that it would have sent shivers down Rose's spine even had she not known what it was. The trouble was, she did, she knew all too well what this creature in front of her was, with handles on its head and crude tear-drop shapes at the corners of its empty eye-sockets. It took her a moment to realize that the scream had come from her.

The Doctor flung her behind him, putting himself in between her and the Cyberman, sonic screwdriver at the ready, though Rose couldn't help a slightly snide thought passing through her mind: _What are you going to do, undo all its screws?_

Rose remembered the Cybermen like they had only happened yesterday. Well, of course she did, that whole adventure in a parallel universe had remained printed upon her memory for so long. The main reason was Pete, obviously. Her daddy. There was barely a day that went by that she didn't think about him and what could have been, especially seeing Tala with the Doctor. There were other reasons, though, that meeting the Cybermen stayed in her mind whilst other trips she'd taken and creature she'd faced faded ever so slightly from her memory. She'd lost Mickey, her boyfriend, her best friend. From then on, it had been her and the Doctor, just them, alone, hand in hand. It had been what she'd wanted at the time, but afterwards, when he'd left her behind, left her with Tala not once, but twice… then she'd missed Mickey. She'd missed having a friend to support her and make her laugh. Even now, now she had everything she'd ever wanted, the Doctor and Tala and her mum all together and in one place… well, she still wondered _what if_? She supposed it was only human.

But remembering the Cybermen so well, what she didn't remember was them being so still for so long. Since the lights had flickered on, the creature in front of them hadn't taken a step forwards, hadn't so much as moved one of its heavy arms. Even when she'd screamed, it hadn't acknowledged their presence. She didn't know why, but that freaked her out even more.

In a whisper she asked, "Why isn't it moving?"

The Doctor frowned. She could feel it in his back muscles as his forehead creased. She wondered if that was a normal thing for a person to know about someone else, the way their back tensed when they scowled.

"I don't know," he admitted. He took a step towards the Cyberman, his weight firmly on his back foot incase he needed to turn and run quickly. Run where he had no idea, the room was barely ten foot square. As he got closer and closer, the creature still made no move, but he didn't take that for granted. He lifted the sonic screwdriver slowly and carefully up and scanned for any signs of life.

"Doctor?" Rose asked, her back against the far wall, eyes wide.

"No life signs," he said softly. "It's not alive."

"Is that… good?" Rose asked tentatively, when the Cyberman suddenly sprang into life, sending the Doctor skittering backwards.

"You must answer the following three questions." The cold mechanical voice rang out in the stark room. "You will have only one chance at the correct answer. If you fail, you must leave through the door you came in by." It stopped abruptly.

Rose looked across at the Doctor. "I thought you said it wasn't alive!"

"It's not!" the Doctor insisted, looking at it again. "No life signs, it's not… Hold on." He walked towards it, his body and face set in their almost default "curious" position. He reached out to the Cyberman, and Rose could feel her insides clench and her toes curl up in her trainers. He hesitantly lifted his hands up and placed them on the helmet.

"Be careful!" Rose advised.

"I'm fine, I know what I'm doing." The Doctor poked his tongue out as, gingerly, he lifted the helmet off. What lay underneath brought a sudden sparkle to his eyes. "Oh, look! Oh, that's beautiful!"

Rose looked. "What is it?"

"It's a robot, just a basic space-age clockwork robot!" The Doctor bounced on the spot excitedly, then, seeing, Rose didn't entirely comprehend it, he elaborated. "It's nothing to worry about, it's not a real Cyberman, just a clockwork robot. Like the ones we met in Versailles!" he added

"Oh, yeah, _that's_ a comfort!" Rose rolled her eyes, remembering what those clockwork droids had been doing in pre-Revolutionary France.

"God, they don't make them like that anymore!" The Doctor beamed gleefully as he gazed at the workings of the droid. "Beautiful! Absolutely beautiful!"

It began talking again, and without the helmet, the voice wasn't half so terrifying. "Say 'proceed' when you are ready to begin."

"Whoever designed this place has a sick mind," Rose pointed out. "Memory-changing drugs, Daleks in a cage and now this!" She shook her head. "No child of mine would ever come here."

The Doctor frowned again now, having been brought back from his elation quickly by Rose's summary of things so far. "Even stranger, where did this idea come from? I mean, Daleks, easy, just have a hunt through time, one will pop up sooner or later. But Cybermen… no, they're not of this universe."

"You said you'd met them before though, before I did," Rose reminded him. "And there was a head in Van Statten's museum."

"A different design." The Doctor shook his head. "Similar, but not the same. It's like… like whoever owns this place, this _pleasure dome-"_ he spat out the words "-it's like they can travel wherever they want to, whenever they want to. Like they…" He tailed off.

"Say 'proceed' when you are ready to begin."

Rose took a step towards the droid. Even though she knew it wasn't a Cyberman now, something about the droid seemed familiar. She knew what it was. That awful time up on Satellite Five, playing the Weakest Link game from hell. She didn't why it reminded her of that, it had all been so long ago, and this droid looked nothing like that one. But the same fear was deep within her now, making her feel sick and wobbly all at the same time.

"Hadn't we better… you know… play along?" she asked now, wishing the Doctor would take his eyes off of the helmet in his hand for a minute and look at her. She was trembling almost visibly, she was sure, and she needed a hand to hold now.

The Doctor answered in a vague fashion. "I guess. This is all bizarre though."

"So shall I…?" Rose gestured towards the droid.

"What? Oh, yeah, go on."

Rose threw her shoulders back and tossed her hair. She fixed the droid with a stern eye, though whether it could see her or not was a very debatable idea. "Proceed."

The droid erupted into life again. "Question One. The human population of Earth currently stands at how many million?"

Rose glanced across at the Doctor. "Uh…" She pulled a face.

He sighed. "Ninety-six billion."

They both looked at the droid. There was a long pause.

"Correct."

"Honestly, I take you to these places and do you pay attention? The Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire?" the Doctor complained.

"Unless you've forgotten, I was a bit tied up that day," Rose replied. "I wasn't paying much attention to space-age dates."

"No, just pretty boys," the Doctor shot back.

Rose let it go. He was in one of his strops, the kind that could only be brought about by his failure to understand what was going on. It didn't happen often that the Doctor didn't understand things; he wasn't really used to it.

"Question Two. I am thinking of two integers. If multiplied together, their product is worth one more than their sum, which is equal to the number of players in a Khanatavia team. What are the two numbers?"

The Doctor looked at Rose, who looked bewildered. "Two and three," he answered.

"Correct."

"Khanatavia?" Rose raised her eyebrows.

"It's like the new football." The Doctor shrugged. "Only played in space. And the losers get exiled. It's not a very nice game actually," he admitted as he thought about it.

"You think?" Rose rolled her eyes. "Only one question left, you ready?"

"Always."

"Question Three. In old Earth children's stories-"

"You might even get this, Rose." The Doctor nudged her excitedly.

"Alright, no need to sound quite so patronizing," Rose muttered.

"- which character, whose name consists of two alliterative adjectives and a noun, completes the following phrase: 'Who's afraid of the…?'"

Rose froze. Her mind scrabbled furiously for another answer, running over the one which had sprung into her mind automatically without hesitation, not willing to believe that she was right. It couldn't be…

"Rose?" The Doctor looked at her, frowning. "Do you know?"

"Don't you?" Rose asked in a slightly hoarse voice.

The Doctor shrugged. "Nine hundred years, I must have managed to miss that one."

Rose took a deep breath. "Big Bad Wolf." She looked at the Doctor again, grateful to see that, finally, he was taking this whole thing seriously.

"Correct answer. You have answer all three questions correctly. Go through the door on the left."

The Doctor led the way, leaving the Cyberman helmet on the floor. Rose followed as they headed down a corridor.

"Doctor, did you hear that?" she asked, walking alongside him as he strode quickly down the corridor, looking straight ahead. "Did you hear what the answer was?"

"Forget it," he said firmly. "Don't even think about it."

"But the Big Bad Wolf!" Rose protested. "Doctor-"

"Everyone gets the same questions, Rose, it was just a coincidence, just a simple coincidence." He swiped his ticket and read the message on the screen. "'Welcome Sir Doctor. Please feel free to use this area to rest in for as long as you want before progressing to Realm Three.' Can't say they're not hospitable."

They both walked through the door. The wall in front of them was made up of a long window, gazing out into space. It could have been anywhere, anytime. But it wasn't. It was…

As the Doctor walked towards the window in awe, Rose couldn't help a comment escaping her lips. "You still think it's just a coincidence?"

The Doctor looked out into the dark space in disbelief. He turned to look at Rose again. "Satellite Five. It's Satellite Five." It all made sense now, the familiarity and the things he couldn't quite put his finger on. Though the last time he'd stood here, he'd looked down upon an Earth encased in fog and smog, and now that same Earth was cleaner, he knew without a doubt it was the same place.

Rose suddenly wished that it was just a coincidence. "Are you sure? I mean, it could be anywhere, it could…" She looked up at him as she stood alongside him. "It's us. Of course it's Satellite Five." She gazed out at the stars around them. "It must be old by now though."

"Ancient. One of the oldest satellites in the universe," the Doctor agreed. "Practically a stately home in the space-age." He stepped away from the window. "But how? How does it keep picking itself back up?" Rose saw a look of horror pass across his face. "This is my fault."

"No, it's not!" Rose protested. "How could it be? We haven't been here for years."

"I should have destroyed it when I had the chance, blown it to bits." The Doctor ran a hand through his hair. "Every time, every time I step in here, I just make things worse."

"No. They're not being turned into Daleks now, are they?" Rose pointed out, stepping towards him. "The world isn't in any danger, things aren't that bad."

The Doctor smiled at her weakly. "I should have stayed though, afterwards… I should have stayed and sorted things out. Instead, I just… left it."

Rose put her arms around his neck and pulled his head down so that their foreheads were pressed together. "You did what you could," she said softly. "You thought it would be all right, so did I. This isn't your fault." She looked around. "You'd think they'd have learnt to leave this place alone by now though."

The Doctor smiled again. "Third time lucky."

Rose turned back to him and pulled him in for a hug. "Exactly. What's happened isn't your fault." She rested her head on his shoulder, and despite her positive words, couldn't help a small sigh escaping.

"I'm sorry." Rose lifted her head to look at the Doctor. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have got you involved in this."

Rose shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I know I didn't have a choice, but… I'd have wanted to come anyway."

"Even though T-"

"Even though," Rose interrupted him nodding, and then hugged the Doctor again. "Make her proud of her daddy," she whispered in his ear. They broke apart again and she fixed him with a steady look, looking deep into those brown eyes she knew so well and yet could never tire of looking at. "I know you can do this, I know you can fix whatever's gone wrong. I believe in you."

The Doctor smiled once again, but this time it reached his eyes and Rose could feel a familiar excitement pass throughout her body. "And maybe that's all I need." He kissed Rose quickly, only a brief peck, but it seemed to revive him. "Come on. Realm Three here we come!"

* * *

_**Next time: Offers and Rejections**_

"_But that's…" Gwen tailed off, pointing with the end of her pen. She frowned. "No, don't be stupid, that's Cardiff. That's here!"_

"_Right, and Cardiff couldn't possibly have anything unusual happening in it could it?" Owen's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Get with the programme, Gwen!"_

_Gwen looked between them all, still seemingly oblivious to the glare Jack had been treating her to ever since she sat down. "So, what? This heat-wave is… something alien?"_

"_Are you going to let her finish?" Jack snapped suddenly, making them all jump._

_Gwen blinked several times after he'd spoken, as the room suddenly seemed more silent than before. "Sorry, I..." she stumbled over the words in a state of bewilderment Owen regretted his earlier feeling of elation at seeing her in trouble for once; she didn't deserve this. "Sorry, Tosh, go on."_


	12. Offers and Rejections

For once, Owen was in the right place at the right time. With one ankle resting on the knee of his other leg, the findings Toshiko had printed out balancing on his lap and the cup of coffee Ianto had placed in front of him in his hands, he was the first member of the team to make it up into the boardroom this morning. Toshiko was still monitoring the activity she'd recorded over night, the reason this meeting had been called, and Ianto was fetching another cup of coffee for her. Owen suspected that Toshiko had been there all night, though he wasn't certain; she could just have easily have taken her laptop home with her and sat up all night in her flat. In fact, that was more likely. For all his faults, if there was nothing serious going on, Jack usually made sure the whole team went home at a fairly reasonable hour.

Jack himself was in his office on the phone, though from the snarled threats he'd left on Gwen's voice mail for the last fifteen minutes, they could all guess that he wasn't getting much joy. It was nearly ten o'clock in the morning and there'd been no sign of Gwen, and not even so much as a text telling any of them she'd been late. Even Owen felt a bit uneasy; it was so unlike her to be late.

Toshiko entered the room, carrying yet more print outs and her laptop. She set it down on the desk and began organizing the presentation she'd prepared. She glanced at Owen.

"Hard at work," she remarked sarcastically.

Owen grinned. "Of course." He looked down at the sheets she'd already handed him this morning. "Have you been working on this all night? He only told you to keep an eye on it."

Toshiko shrugged. "Things changed quickly. I thought we should investigate it further."

Owen accepted what she was saying. She was partly right; it was even hotter today and he'd heard on the radio this morning that the road surfaces across the city were beginning to become unsafe in the abnormal temperatures. Bristol Airport had grounded its planes as the runway turned to jelly and they were warning people to avoid the midday sun after a sudden increase in the number of sunstroke cases seen at local hospitals. If his medical training had taught him anything, Owen knew that those warnings would mean exactly zilch to the population at large; warnings like that never registered with the majority of people, who would happily bask for several hours in the sun and then wonder why their skin was peeling off. It was petty stupid things like this that made him count his blessings that Jack had (though he hated using the word) rescued him from the NHS and installed him as resident doctor in Torchwood Three. At least aliens tended to slap the sunscreen on.

"Do you think Gwen's okay?" Toshiko asked now, a thoughtful look on her face. "It's not like her to be so late. Do you think anything's happened to her?"

"Like what? She's decided to give Torchwood the old heave-ho and head back to her old life as PC Cooper?" Owen suggested. God, how he'd day-dreamed that would happen when she first joined and began undermining his ideas. Now, he knew that, however much she wound him up, if she were to leave, though everything would still ostensibly be the same, nothing and no one would ever fill the Gwen-shaped hole in the team. They were such an unlikely bunch of people, but they all belonged there.

Toshiko frowned. "Do you think she would?"

Owen groaned. "No, I don't think she would, Tosh. She's probably just, I don't know, washing her hair or something."

"She better not be." Jack stalked into the room, dressed as usual in a crisp white shirt and black trousers. He looked ready to murder, and Owen knew that look well; he'd been on the receiving end more than once. So far though, it was the first time that Gwen had provoked that particular response in their leader. Owen was getting a perverse joy out of this situation.

"Coffee, sir?" Ianto entered the room, carrying a tray.

Jack shot a glare at him, much to Ianto's dismay and surprise. "No, I don't want coffee. Or tea or anything else." He looked around at team's response to his growl. "What?"

They all avoided eye-contact. Owen looked over at Ianto, venturing to say, "I'll have a cup if he doesn't want it."

Jack shot him a glare before, slumping down in his chair and shutting his eyes. "Okay, sorry. Sorry, guys, I didn't mean to take it out on you. Thanks for the offer, Ianto, but I'm fine." He turned to Toshiko. "So, what's the news?"

"Well-" Toshiko began, but just then there was a crash down in the Hub and they all jumped. They heard footsteps running up the stairs to the boardroom and seconds later, Gwen burst in, looking hot and bothered in a black vest top and jeans, her dark hair sticking to her forehead in messy clumps. Tala was holding firmly on to her hand, looking equally as sweaty.

"Sorry I'm late!" Gwen apologized, in between breaths. She clutched her side. "I should really get in training, I'm knackered!" She looked round. "So, what have I missed?" The question was directed at Jack, but he didn't reply. She cast her eyes around the group, asking for a reply.

"Nothing, I was just getting started," Toshiko said eventually, smiling nervously in her direction, whilst her eyes flew back to see what Jack was doing. "I've been running a few checks on things overnight and I just thought everyone should see what I'd found."

"Oh great!" Gwen grinned, though Owen couldn't help thinking it looked a bit of an effort for her. She looked tired and more than a little spaced out this morning. Combined with her tardiness, she was behaving in a very un-Gwen Cooper-like way. To his surprise, Owen found himself being genuinely concerned for her, a reaction only outstripped by his knee-jerk urge to tease her about it.

Gwen turned to Ianto suddenly. "Don't suppose you could make me a cup of coffee could you, Ianto? I'm dying for one."

Ianto looked across at Jack. Owen rolled his eyes, hoping no one would notice, and for once getting away with it. He wished Ianto would get a backbone sometimes and stop deferring to Jack for every last mortal thing. Someone seriously needed to tell the guy that the puppy-dog thing was not a good look.

Jack kept his eyes fixed on Gwen, a steady unnerving gaze, his blue eyes steely cold. Owen wasn't even on the receiving end of it yet it made him shiver, but Gwen barely seemed to notice it. She was really acting out of character.

"Ianto, take Tala with you," Jack said at length. "Can I get a glass of water?"

"Of course, sir." Ianto held out a hand for Tala, who cautiously transferred her own hand from Gwen's to the new one offered. They left the room in silence.

Gwen sat down, sighing heavily for a moment, before sitting up straight. "Okay, I'm ready."

There was a moment of silence, as Toshiko looked at Jack before clearing her throat and beginning again. "Anyway. Last night I started looking into the hot temperatures we've been having lately, and found that it wasn't just limited to this area." She tapped a key on her laptop and the map she'd shown Jack and Owen yesterday popped onto the big screen at the end of the table. "This is a map of the world."

"Never!" Owen remarked sarcastically, and was delighted to observe that Jack didn't even flicker an eyebrow in his direction. With glee, he realised that he'd been usurped today, that Gwen was in a lot more trouble than he could ever be. God, this could be fun.

Toshiko tried to pick up where she'd left off. "The red areas are the hottest points, which would normally be clustered across the equator. But as you can see…"

"They're not," Jack finished for her. "Okay, we get that."

Toshiko nodded and zoomed in. "This is the highest temperature anomaly on the map."

"But that's…" Gwen tailed off, pointed with the end of her pen. She frowned. "No, don't be stupid, that's Cardiff. That's _here_!"

"Right, and Cardiff couldn't _possibly_ have anything unusual happening in it could it?" Owen's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Get with the programme, Gwen!"

Gwen looked between them all, still seemingly oblivious to the glare Jack had been treating her to ever since she sat down. "So, what? This heat-wave is… something _alien_?"

"Are you going to let her finish?" Jack snapped suddenly, making them all jump.

Gwen blinked several times after he'd spoken, as the room suddenly seemed more silent than before. "Sorry, I..." she stumbled over the words in a state of bewilderment. Owen regretted his earlier feeling of elation at seeing her in trouble for once; she didn't deserve this. "Sorry, Tosh, go on."

Toshiko gave her a small smile before continuing. "I'm not sure entirely what it is. I'm sure there are all sorts of explanations, like the ones they've given on the news, but the patterning of temperatures just doesn't seem right. There are definite hotspots in identifiable locations specific places which are hotter than any other points. The biggest one is just outside of Cardiff. Now, I've tried narrowing down the exact location of it, and the closest I've come is within this grid square." She brought up another picture, this time a close-up of a single Ordnance Survey grid square. "There's not a lot out here, just a few villages and things. And this." She pointed to a tourist attraction. "The Blaidd Drwg Holiday Park."

At those words, both Gwen and Owen felt something prick the back of their necks and couldn't work out exactly what it was. Those words sounded so familiar, like a refrain from a song or a name they'd once heard in a dream or something.

"Blaidd Drwg…" Gwen said softly. "But that means…"

"Bad Wolf." They all looked at Jack in surprise as he finished Gwen's sentence. "Blaidd Drwg means Bad Wolf."

"How did you know that?" Owen asked. "Has Ianto been giving you private Welsh lessons or something?"

Jack threw him a withering expression, but didn't elaborate on his sudden knowledge of Welsh.

"Bad Wolf…" Gwen said thoughtfully. Where had she seen that recently, why did it seem such a familiar phrase?

"Blaidd Drwg…" Owen frowned. "Tosh, lend me your laptop a minute." He took the computer without waiting for a reply from her and quickly logged into his network, searching through the history. "Here we go." He found the news station he was watching yesterday and scanned through, looking for the bulletin he'd seen. "Blaidd Drwg!" He flashed the picture up on the big screen. Alongside the download button for the catch-up news service was a brief description: _David Jones meets the manager of Blaidd Drwg Holiday Camp to hear how the recent good weather has impacted upon his business_. "I knew I'd heard it recently."

Toshiko reclaimed her laptop and hit a few more keys. Whilst she was busying herself searching for the other documents she'd had lined up to show them, Gwen cast aside her wondering over Bad Wolf and spoke up.

"Okay, so maybe this heat-wave isn't exactly natural," she admitted. "It does seem a bit weird. But even so… what's the big deal? It's gorgeous weather, there's no harm done." She ventured a small smile. "Maybe just this once, the aliens are on _our_ side, giving us something useful without any side-effects."

Toshiko brought a list of figures up. "I've intercepted the Cardiff Royal Infirmary casualty database. They've had record numbers of people coming in with heat-related illnesses. Five deaths from dehydration yesterday alone." She brought another screen up. "And the pattern's repeated all over the world. Plus, the sea-levels are rising, they've already had wide-spread flooding in Holland and Egypt."

"Bad enough side-effects for you?" Jack shot at Gwen.

Gwen looked at him, her face still registering confusion at exactly why Jack Harkness was being so vile towards this morning. "I was only _saying_," she replied.

"And now you don't need to." Jack turned to Toshiko. "Good work, Tosh, this is obviously something we need to look into further. I think it would be a good idea if someone were to swing by the hospital, see if we can learn anything more about any of the cases brought in. Owen, you fancy that?"

"A hot day in a badly air-conditioned, over-crowded hospital? Can't imagine anything better." Owen rolled his eyes.

"Tosh, if you can keep an eye on things from here, see if you can find any links between any of the hotspots, anything that could suggest what's behind all of this."

Toshiko nodded. "Sure."

There was a pause, as they all waited for Jack to tell Gwen what her part in all this would be. Then he stood up and walked out of the room without saying another word.

Gwen stared after him in disbelief. "Did he just… blank me?" she asked, unsure if she'd imagined it or not.

"That would certainly be one way of putting it," Owen agreed, stretching widely. "He's not too chuffed with you actually."

"Why? What have I done?" Gwen asked, looking between Toshiko and Owen, and then at Ianto as he came back in with a cup of coffee. "Thanks." She looked at the coffee, and felt her stomach flip slightly. "Actually, you know what, I'll have this in a minute," she decided, pushing it away from her. She turned back to them, forgetting about her sudden strange reaction to the drink. "Seriously, why has he been such a twat this morning?"

"You were a bit late." Owen shrugged.

"And you never are?" Gwen raised her eyebrows. She looked out at where Jack was heading to his office. "He's got a bloody nerve, he…" She stood up and marched out of the room, intending to have it out with Captain Jack Harkness.

Owen pulled a face and stood up. "I think I'll head out while the going's still good. Have a nice time with the two of them." He waved cheerily to Toshiko and Ianto as he left.

"Thanks a lot!" Toshiko stuck her tongue out at him as he walked away, instantly feeling childish. She sighed heavily and closed her laptop up. She looked up to see Ianto still looking at the discarded cup of coffee. "You alright, Ianto?"

Ianto jerked himself back into the room. "Oh, yes. That's the first time Gwen's ever left her coffee." He shrugged and picked the cup back up and took it down to the kitchen. Someone needed to keep the Hub looking at least half-respectable.

* * *

"Jack, what is your problem?" Gwen demanded, crashing into his office. "What's with the act this morning?"

"Who said it was an act?" Jack replied sharply, his back to her as he rifled through a pile of papers on his desk. "Who said it wasn't real?"

Gwen was briefly stumped by that and then regained some of her fire. "Owen says you're pissed because I was late."

"Did he?"

"I wasn't _that_ late." Gwen felt herself faltering again. Jack was being so eerily calm and quiet about this. He wasn't losing his temper or throwing his weight around or even looking at her. It was so much harder to get mad with someone when they wouldn't respond equally as angrily. She wondered if she was possibly overreacting to the way he'd been behaving; maybe it was all just a joke. "I mean, Owen's often a lot later than I was, you don't go all huffy with him."

"Owen didn't have Tala with him, you did!" Jack suddenly turned on her, his blue eyes vibrant with anger and annoyance seeping from every pore.

Gwen felt partly pleased at his reaction. At least she could let rip now, like she'd wanted to ever since she'd followed him up to his office. Reacting with harsh words and shouting was her way out of difficult situations. It wasn't all Jack's fault, the way she was feeling this way; Rhys's suggestion just before he left this morning had started her off on an odd-foot and she'd been scrambling for a stable foothold ever since. Jack had just made things worse.

"Oh, I might have known it would have something to do with Tala!" she snapped. "What did you think would have happened to her? Thought I'd have, I don't know, got her abducted or something, or maybe poisoned her?"

"No! I just…" Jack glowered at her. "You turned your phone off, what's the first rule of Torchwood?"

"Don't talk about Torchwood?" Gwen muttered before answering properly. "I didn't turn my phone off though!"

"Really?" Jack challenged her. He hit the speakerphone button on the telephone on his desk as he dialed her number. He stared her down as her voicemail cut in.

Gwen frowned and reached into her jeans pocket, pulling out her phone. "But…the battery must have died or something, I didn't turn it off." That was even stranger; she'd charged it up only yesterday afternoon while she sat doing her paperwork. The battery should have lasted a few days, not just a few hours.

"Right, that makes it _so_ much better!" Jack spat. "Jesus, Gwen! What if I really needed to get hold of you?"

"You know where I live, would it have been so hard to come and knock on the door?" Gwen demanded, even as she knew that wasn't the point. There weren't many rules to being a part of Torchwood, even fewer rules than there were in Fight Club. It was the first time she'd ever forgotten to keep her phone charged up since taking the job; inside, she was kicking herself, though she'd never let Jack see that.

She tossed her hair. "Anyway, we're both fine. Yeah, me too, thanks for asking."

Jack glowered at her again. "I didn't."

"No shit." Gwen tried to calm herself down. "So. What do you want me to do this morning?"

Jack looked at her, a question in his eyes.

"You didn't say what you wanted me to do," Gwen reminded him. "So?"

Jack didn't reply straight away. When he did, it wasn't what Gwen wanted to hear.

"I'm going to head out to Blaidd Drwg holiday camp, I thought I'd take Ianto with me. For Welsh speaking reasons."

"I can speak Welsh."

"Your exam results beg to differ."

Gwen twisted her right foot on the floor awkwardly as she stood in the silence after Jack's remark. She felt like a little girl again, in the headteacher's office at school, being told she couldn't go on a school trip or something. "So… what am I doing today?" she asked in a small voice.

"I thought you could stay here, take any phone calls, keep Tosh company, keep an eye on Tala."

"Child-mind?" The words escaped Gwen's lips before she could stop them.

Jack's eyes flickered over to her again. "No. Just keep a general eye on the Hub."

"Stay here? While you and Ianto go off on a jolly jaunt to a holiday camp?" Gwen wished she could keep her mouth shut sometimes.

"Yes."

Gwen didn't know why she could feel her cheeks going red and feel the blood suddenly rushing through her veins. She squeezed her hands tight into fists, determined not to let Jack see how much this rejection was affecting her. She couldn't even explain why it was affecting her in this way.

"Right. Well, fine." She nodded, determinedly keeping her chin up. "Have a nice time." She turned on her heel and walked out of his office.

* * *

Ianto didn't really mind being the only member of Torchwood without a real job title. Sure, Owen got to deal with any medical problems, and Toshiko was a whiz with the computer, Jack could organize the troops with military precision and Gwen was wonderful with dealing with people. Ianto knew though that, without him, the general day-to-day running of Torchwood would fall apart. He was the one who supplied Owen with endless coffees after a late night out, meaning the doctor was able to concentrate on the autopsy he was performing and not his thudding headache and heavy eyelids. He was the one who made sure all the invoices for internet access and telephone bills were sent to head office in London so that Toshiko could work on whatever complicated piece of research she had that week. He often picked up the half-finished packet of biscuits Gwen abandoned on her desk at the end of the day and put them into an airtight container so they'd still be edible the following day; she seemed incapable of sitting at her desk for any length of time without nibbling on something. And as for Jack… well, without Ianto, he'd soon have run out of clean shirts as his idea of doing the laundry was discarding his clothes where they dropped. Whether he realised there was more to it than that, Ianto wasn't sure, but he wasn't ever going to let their leader find out; it was a small job and one Ianto quite enjoyed.

Even though he didn't mind being the general Torchwood dogsbody, Ianto couldn't help thinking that days like today were his payment for the generally unacknowledged tasks he carried out. The weather was beautiful as the SUV cruised gently through the suburbs of Cardiff, under the careful management of Jack Harkness. It wasn't every day Ianto was given the opportunity to work out in the field on something, and he meant to enjoy every second of one of his rare Torchwood trips away from the Hub.

Jack, though, wasn't in the best mood. With the top few buttons of his shirt undone and his sleeves rolled up, he hadn't made much of a change from his usual clothes to accommodate the hot weather. The muscles in his forearms flexed gently as he moved the steering wheel with the minimum of effort, usually resting one arm on the door. They'd been in silence almost since Jack had informed Ianto that he was coming out to the Blaidd Drwg holiday camp with him. And Ianto didn't mind that either, but he couldn't help feeling that if he'd wanted to spend the day in silence, he'd have been down in the vaults of the Hub, cataloguing more items.

"Aren't you hot?"

Ianto glanced across as Jack asked the question. He hesitated before answering. "One doesn't like to boast, sir."

A smile creased Jack's features. "Very good. For once though, I was being serious."

Ianto looked down at his less-crisp-than-usual black suit. It wasn't exactly ideal attire for the more than favourable weather they were experiencing at the moment. Still, it wasn't as though Jack was wandering around in Hawaiian print shirts and flip-flops. "No more than you, I bet, sir."

"Oh Ianto, you'll make me blush!" Jack replied.

They fell silent again. Ianto picked up the print-out of the holiday camp's website Toshiko had run off for them before they left. He flicked through it, more for something to do than for any other reason. It was the standard fare, a typical British holiday camp, with activities and chalets and karaoke in the evening. It reminded him of the holidays he used to go on as a child. The only thing which really marked the holiday camp out as anything unusual at all was its name.

"Blaidd Drwg…" he said thoughtfully, running his fingers over the name.

"It's a weird one isn't it?" Jack agreed. "Bad Wolf. Funny name for a holiday camp."

Ianto looked over at him, frowning. "I thought you were bringing me because I could speak Welsh?" he questioned him.

Jack didn't reply immediately as he pretended to negotiate a tricky bend, which in actual fact was no more troublesome than the dozens he had already driven through. Ianto recognized this diversion technique; Jack used it far too often for it to be effective anymore.

"I don't really know Welsh, just the odd few words," Jack said eventually, shrugging. "Blaidd Drwg. Plaid Cymru."

Ianto smiled. "That's not really words, sir."

"There you go then. Anyway, why do I need to learn Welsh when I've got you, Ianto?"

Another thing to put into his job untitle: Welsh Interpreter. Even so, he ventured to say, "Gwen can speak Welsh too."

The muscle in Jack's jaw tightened. "Not as well as you, Ianto."

"Enough though, sir."

Jack shrugged again. "Wishing I'd brought her instead of you?"

"No, sir, not really," Ianto replied quickly.

Jack smiled. "Then stop trying to do yourself out of a job. Now. Which turning is it?"

* * *

Looking around the humid and overcrowded casualty department of the Cardiff Royal Infirmary, Owen was only able to make himself feel better by remembering that he was here on Torchwood business, he wasn't about to start another long boring shift as an A and E doctor. The register Toshiko had taken from the hospital network hadn't even half-explained the problems here. It was only eleven in the morning and already there were at least six people that he could see with angry sun-burnt skin all over them. A bald man's head was glowing like a traffic light in the middle of the waiting room, whilst a young blonde girl was standing in cut-off shorts and a bikini top, her skin clearly too painful to allow even cotton fabrics to touch it. On the way in, Owen had had to dodge two ambulance crews, wheeling in patients both with acute sunstroke. The whole place was buzzing like it would after a major incident, like a fire or a twenty car pile-up. The patients in the waiting room would be waiting a long time, Owen thought, as the revised waiting time flashed up on the screen above the reception desk. Five hours was a hell of a long time to be sitting in an oven-like atmosphere like this.

He sauntered up to the front desk, checking to see if it was the cute brunette who worked there. On the occasions Torchwood came to the hospital to look at a victim with suspicious injuries, he rarely had a chance to have a proper chat with her, which was a shame; she looked like just the sort of person he'd like to talk to. Today though, he didn't really have a specific job to carry out. Jack had just said to take a look at the problem. If he was being particularly literal, Owen supposed he could claim that he'd done exactly that; he'd looked and seen and, yes, the problem was as bad as Tosh had suggested it was and worse. While he was here though, he might as well see if he could find out anything else, and if he knew hospitals, the receptionist was exactly the right place to head.

He pushed to the front, much to the chagrin of more than one patient, particularly a mother with three grizzly children.

"Oi, you!" She hollered at him, an entirely unnecessary exercise seeing as he was less than three feet away from her. "We was here first!"

Owen ignored her and turned his attention to the desk. And wouldn't you know it, it was the cute brunette's day off, and in her place was a large middle-aged woman with glasses thick enough to double as lenses for the Hubble telescope. Owen couldn't help wondering why the woman bothered with them anyway; she spent the entire time peering at everyone over them.

"Can I help you?" She looked him up and down.

"Dr. Owen Harper, Torchwood." Owen produced his ID card, whipping it in front of her eyes quickly. "I was wondering if I could have a few minutes with you."

The woman stared him down. "Now?"

"If you're not busy."

She looked from him to the jostling queue of people waiting to register at the desk. "No, I'm not. As you can see." She turned away from him. "Next!"

Owen pushed in front of the next patient.

"Oi, mate, fuck off!" the man protested.

"How about no," Owen retorted. "Seriously, I need to speak to someone about the…" he lowered his voice, "situation."

The receptionist was not in the least impressed with him. "You mean the heat-wave."

"Well, if that's what you want to call it."

"No one's available to talk to you right now." She turned to the man behind him. "Can I help?"

Owen decided to try one last time; he'd never known when to stop pushing his luck, it was one of his worst traits – and, according to an ex-girlfriend, one of his most endearing qualities. Mind you, Sophie had always been a bit odd, into all sorts of kinky stuff which even Owen, who liked to think of himself as a particularly free spirit, wasn't able to keep up with. She'd been fun, but far too exhausting and downright weird to last long.

"Look, I'd make it worth your while if you could just find out some information for me-"

"You could offer to be my sex-slave here and now and it would make no difference," the receptionist replied tartly. Despite the glasses, Owen was warming to her. She was a feisty old bag. "Now, if you really are a doctor, maybe you could help out. If not… well, what he said," she pointed to the man behind Owen.

Owen accepted he was beaten and backed out of the ward before he could be attacked by anybody who'd caught the word "doctor". There was no way in the world he wanted to treat an overweight teenager with sunburn in obscene places. He bid a fast escape to the relative sanity of the front of the hospital.

Right, so it was eleven-fifteen and he had nothing to show for his trip out to the hospital. It wasn't strictly his fault, and he had a very good excuse for not having found anything out (though he intended to embellish the truth a little when he retold the story), he was still loathe to go back to the Hub completely empty-handed. For once, Gwen was in the dog-house, not him, and, to his surprise, he was enjoying the sensation of not being Jack's arch-nemesis on the team. Not that he was ever going to become quite such a faithful follower of him as Ianto, but even so… the feeling wasn't entirely unpleasant.

Outside, the air wasn't much cooler or fresher than in the hospital, as engine fumes mingled with the tobacco smoke wafting over from several huddles of smokers. It was something that had always amused him when he worked in hospitals, and even more so now he didn't. Relatives standing outside having a cigarette were one thing, but more often than not, the majority of the smokers were doctors and nurses. It had been a running joke at his last job before Torchwood happened that the quickest way to see a doctor was to nip outside and have a swift fag; more than one diagnosis had taken place outside over a friendly cigarette break. It seemed things hadn't changed at all.

While he deliberated his next move, Owen leaned against the wall, accidentally eavesdropping on a conversation between two nurses, a pretty Welsh redhead and a peroxide blonde Scouser.

"I mean, I only became a nurse because my mum watched _Casualty_, and I quite fancied George Clooney!" the blonde exclaimed, knocking the ash off the end of her cigarette. "If I'd known it was going to be all sun-burnt arses and old pervs, I wouldn't have bothered, I've have become a hairdresser instead."

"I know." The Welsh girl nodded in agreement. "It all looks so much more glamorous on TV." She ran a hand through her red hair. "I was watching that modeling show last night, I reckon I could do that, you know."

"Oh, I _love_ that!" the other nurse squealed. "You'd be so good at it, babes."

The Welsh girl grinned, and Owen had to admit she did look pretty hot. "It would be better than this anyway. Imagine having your photo taken for a living!"

"And wearing nice clothes." The Scouser sighed. "Can't remember the last time I bought any new clothes."

Something clicked into place in Owen's mind. And he stepped forward.

"Hey, I couldn't help overhearing your conversation," he said smoothly, moving between the two young women. "You know, I've got a friend who's a photographer, he's always looking for new talent. You two have really got interesting faces."

The Welsh girl smiled again, looking more than interested, but the Scouse girl looked dubious.

"Really? You know, if I had a quid for every time a bloke had mentioned his 'photographer friend', I wouldn't be a nurse anymore." She looked Owen up and down. "And you should mind your own."

Owen gave her a smile. God, he _loved_ feisty women! "You're right. I don't have any photographer friends."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Knew it."

"Sorry."

The Welsh girl looked disappointed beyond belief. "Oh." She sighed. "I better be getting back inside then."

"Sorry…" Owen strained to look at her name badge. "Kirsty. Sorry for getting your hopes up, Kirsty."

"That's alright." Kirsty shrugged, and smiled again. "Most exciting thing that'll happen to me today."

"You could be a model," Owen insisted. "You're wasted on the old pervs."

Kirsty gave him her widest smile yet. "Thanks. Blimey, wish we had more people like you around." She glanced at her friend. "You coming in, Vi?"

"I'll just finish this," Vi waved her cigarette at the other nurse. "I'll be in in five."

Kirsty went in, her smile fading as she entered the claustrophobic atmosphere of the hospital again.

Owen turned back to Vi. "You were quick off the mark there. How did you know I didn't have a friend who was a photographer?"

"Guys like you never do," Vi replied. "Or if you do, he keeps all his photos for his private collection." She took a long drag on her cigarette and looked him up and down curiously. "Have to admit, you had me going for a second. Guys like you don't usually try and pick up women outside hospitals."

"I'm a special kind." Owen grinned widely.

"That's one way of putting it," Vi agreed. "So, who are you?"

"Owen Harper. Doctor."

Vi rolled her eyes. "Great, another one. Like we need another one around here. A word of advice, _Doctor_ Harper; if you intend to hit on nurses, that doesn't usually impress us."

Owen frowned; things had changed since his day.

"Are you one of the locums they've called in?" Vi asked.

"No. They've called in locums?" Owen picked his ears up.

"Yeah. To deal with the heat-wave."

"Right." Owen nodded. "Is it causing a lot of trouble, the weather?"

Vi looked at him disbelievingly. "For a doctor, you're not too bright."

"Thanks!"

"Well, come on!" Vi gestured to the ambulances pulling up as regular as clockwork and the never-ending stream of patients in and out (though mostly in) of the door. "Look around. It's chaos."

"Right, yeah." Owen nodded. "What I meant to say is, is there any pattern to what's going on? Anything suspicious going on?"

Vi suddenly backed away from him by one step, a frown coming over her face. For a moment Owen thought he'd blown in, gone in too heavy. She blinked, her heavily-mascaraed eyelashes batting furiously as she thought. "What are you?" she asked eventually. "Why are you asking these questions?"

She was on the ball. Owen liked that. He wondered which story to tell; he had a fine number of cover-ups he'd trotted out to various women since he'd joined Torchwood. His personal favourite (though least effective) one was that he was a professional footballer player. For some reason, very few ever seemed to believe that one. He looked at Vi now, wondering which one she'd believe. Then he realised that the only one that would sound in any way convincing, the only way he could possibly convince this woman, was to tell the truth.

"I'm… I'm sort of an investigator," he said, lowering his voice slightly. "In… suspicious activity."

Vi raised her eyebrows. "Like the police?"

"No, we're separate from the police."

"We?"

Owen hoped he wasn't making a huge mistake by telling her this. "Torchwood."

Vi wrinkled her nose up. "Never heard of them."

"Exactly." Owen leaned even closer to her. "Vi, this heat-wave, we think there's something going on."

"Like what?" Vi's face showed incredulity, but her voice betrayed her curiosity. "Who could possibly be controlling the weather?"

"Not who. What." Owen saw her eyebrows fly into her heavy blonde fringe. "I need to know what sort of symptoms people in there are coming in with. And where they're coming from."

"And you're telling me this why?"

"Because I think you can help."

Vi was unable to stop a smug smile spreading across her face. "You're probably right," she agreed. "But why would I want to?"

Owen was happy to return her smile then. "Because if you do, I'll show you a really good time."

Vi looked him up and down again. "I bet you will," she said in a low voice. She nodded slowly. "I finish my shift at seven tonight. Pick me up then and I'll show you what I've got."

"There's an offer I can't refuse," Owen joked as Vi stubbed her cigarette out and turned to head back into the hospital.

She glanced over her shoulder at him. "Believe me, Dr. Harper, you really _won't_ be able to," she said, her tongue poking out mischievously, before pushing through the double doors into the building.

* * *

_**Next time: A Bit Slow**_

"_Five more steps and then-"_

_The Doctor never finished his sentence as suddenly, without warning, the lights went out, briefly, just for one second. It was almost like blinking, only when they were able to see again…_

"_It's…. gone." Rose stared in disbelief at the wall which had formed in front of them, where seconds before there had been a pass to freedom. "But… it was there, the exit, I saw it, we were out!"_


	13. A Bit Slow

**Still working on Chapter 13 so I apologise in advance of there's a big gap between this chapter and the next**

* * *

"What is it?" Rose looked at it and then wrinkled her nose. "Sat nav? Isn't that a bit… out-of-date by now? I always thought they'd have moved on by now. Darren from work has one of those in his car. It's rubbish!"

"Yeah well, old habits die hard." The Doctor shrugged and studied the screen in front of him. "Let's have a look then… what joys await us in Realm Three?" He hit the on button. The screen crackled into life. "Oh. Oh!" A wide grin lit up his face, one Rose recognized, accompanied with the usual sudden rush of energy through his body.

"What is it?" she asked, glancing from it to him quickly.

"It's a maze!" The Doctor virtually danced on the spot. "Oh, I _love_ mazes! I'm brilliant at mazes!"

Rose knew that was true. They'd been thrown out of Hampton Court maze because the Doctor had done it so fast, giving away all the secrets and upsetting more than a few other maze-goers. God, the argument they'd had that night once Tala had been tucked up in bed; he'd completely ruined the day for their little girl, who had half-heartedly trailed after him, holding Rose's hand. The joy of the maze had been absolutely killed by him.

Still, that talent would at least come in handy today.

"So that's like a more sophisticated map?" Rose pointed at the device, which showed a red dot flashing. "What's that?"

"Us, I think…" The Doctor pressed a few more buttons. "Yep, definitely us. It's registering three people."

"What?" Rose's eyes widened.

"Two hearts," the Doctor reminded her gently, his brown eyes meeting hers with an almost heart-breaking look. "I said things weren't all that different in the future. Come on."

Rose took his offered hand but the initial misunderstanding hung between them. She should have known the truth anyway, it was obvious. Clearly binary vascular systems still weren't the norm in the future; maybe they never would be, at least not in this end of the universe. Sometimes, though, she forgot things like that about the Doctor, especially in the last couple of years. It had all been so domestic most of the time, living in a proper house with doors and windows and a _mortgage_ (she remembered the way he'd ranted for two consecutive days about that; he'd never even once mentioned that it was _her_ mortgage, that _she_ was the one paying for it), and going for family meals and walks in the park. Naturally, there'd been the odd trip in the TARDIS, to safe places if they could possibly help it. The TARDIS was usually pretty good when Tala was on board, as though she knew instinctively that this little girl needed protecting. Sometimes Rose wondered about the link between the TARDIS and Tala. Even without the name she'd given her daughter, there was still the odd sensation she had sometimes that… well, maybe the Doctor hadn't taken all the time vortex out of her that day. Maybe some of it had stayed. And maybe Tala had some of it.

With such a normal life, it was no wonder that sometimes, the alien things dropped out of Rose's mind, leaving only the normal responses to remarks like that: _It's registering three people_. For a moment, Rose's heart had leapt, and all the hairs on her arms had stood on end. Was it…? Could it mean…? She should have known that wasn't what he'd meant. After all this time, the last two years, the three previous attempts, the three following heartaches… she should have known it was anything but that. It hadn't stopped her deluding herself for a minute though. And clearly she hadn't been very good at hiding that delusion.

They entered the maze hand in hand. Once within the maze, Rose was disconcerted to see how high the walls were and how silent it all seemed, as though they were the only ones there. It was like all the other Realms they'd been in so far. It was all so isolated and remote, like no one else was within a hundred miles of them. Even with the Doctor's hand firmly in hers, she didn't like it.

The Doctor was studying the device in his hand, his head on one side. "Right, if we go this way…" he murmured, leading the way. "And then… this way." Rose was glad he was taking charge; she wouldn't have a clue.

"Aren't we supposed to always follow the left hand wall or something?" she asked in a low voice, the silence all around her making her feel self-conscious.

The Doctor glanced at her. "No, that's for amateurs. Take us all day if we do that. This way!" He dragged her off to the right as they reached another junction. Rose wondered how he knew what he was doing. Or, more accurately, _if_ he knew what he was doing. She knew better than almost anyone the way he was able to pull off not having a clue. _Almost_ anyone: _You're making this up as you go along, aren't you?_ Mickey… God, she hadn't thought about him in ages. Why was she thinking about him so much today?

"And if we come round here!" The Doctor's voice was suddenly raised in triumph as they turned another corner, and there before them was the exit. "See, am I good, or am I good?" He smiled delightedly, so genuinely pleased with himself that Rose was unable to tease him about his smugness. It wasn't real smugness anyway, it was a sense of elation and joy that this one thing he'd got right. She was just pleased to see him back on top again after his moments of despair in the observation room. There was almost nothing she hated seeing more than the Doctor despondent. It just didn't suit him.

"Five more steps and then-"

The Doctor never finished his sentence as suddenly, without warning, the lights went out, briefly, just for one second. It was almost like blinking, only when they were able to see again…

"It's…. gone." Rose stared in disbelief at the wall which had formed in front of them, where seconds before there had been a pass to freedom. "But… it was there, the exit, I saw it, we were out!"

The Doctor looked all around them and it dawned on both of them that it wasn't just the exit that had been blocked off, but all around them walls had changed places. Just behind them a wall had moved through ninety degrees, blocking off the way that had come, whilst to their left, where there had been a wall, there was now a long passage.

"That's a bit clever," the Doctor said in a voice filled with awe. He looked down at the sat nav in his hand. "That's very clever," he said again, as he saw exactly what had happened. He showed Rose the screen. "The walls have all changed. It's a brand new maze."

* * *

For a few moments they stood there in silence, just staring at the screen. Rose hadn't been able to see it at first but the more she looked, the more she could see what the Doctor could see; the regular, almost perfectly symmetrical maze they had entered had changed, into one significantly less pleasing to the eye and, to her mind, far more complicated. The three flashing red lights remained stationary, a reminder of how close they'd come and how much they'd missed out by. 

"Well, we should at least look on the positive side," the Doctor tried to muster up some cheerfulness. When Rose looked at him askance, he elaborated. "No Retcon this time."

"Oh of course. Happy day," Rose remarked. "Maybe it would be better if there was some. How often do you think this happens?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Only one way to find out."

"You want to wait around?"

"Got a better idea?"

Rose shrugged. "We could take a wander. Wouldn't make much difference either way would it? If it's all going to change again anyway."

The Doctor smiled, and took her hand in his again. "Good point. Go on then. Lead on, Macduff."

"It's actually _lay_ on, Macduff," Rose corrected him, remembering a school's programme she'd watched years ago when Tala was being a fractious two-year-old and wouldn't go to sleep at night. She'd learnt more about Shakespeare, ionic bonding and simultaneous equations in those few months than she'd ever done before in her life.

"Says who?"

Rose recognized the signs for another one of their playful arguments about things like this, and she was unable to resist a smile. "Says everyone! You check back, that's what it says."

"That's not how I remember it…" The Doctor tailed off and looked across at Rose. "But who am I to argue?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "Let me guess, you were _there_ weren't you? You do know starting fights like this when you have inside knowledge is cheating?"

"Ah, the vital bit there is that I didn't start the fight."

"No, you never do, do you?" Rose muttered, with more bitterness coming into her voice than she'd intended. It had been just a normal regular conversation until now, playful and fun. Why did she always have to let her mind wander and start the sniping? She was starting to turn into her mother.

Either the Doctor didn't hear what she'd said (unlikely), or he'd chosen not to respond (becoming increasingly even more unlikely), or he was genuinely distracted by the screen in his hand (the most likely). He opened his mouth to say something and then the lights dipped again.

"There we go!" The Doctor glanced at his watch. "I make that three minutes exactly! They like the power of three here, don't they?"

Rose made a mental note to cancel their subscription to Living TV. He'd taken to watching _Charmed_ far too much in the afternoons.

"They expect us to complete the maze in three minutes?" Rose's jaw dropped. "What kind of crazy place is this?"

"Exactly that. A crazy place." The Doctor looked grim for a moment then threw his shoulders back. "But three minutes. That's doable, that's very doable." Rose looked doubtful. "It is! The next time it changes, we start moving straight away, okay? And fast! Okay?"

"Yes!" Rose snapped, slightly unnecessarily. She saw his face fall and she bit her lip. "Sorry, I didn't mean to shout. I meant, yeah, sure. Fast as I can." She managed a weak smile.

"Rose, I'm going to get us out of this," the Doctor said softly, cupping her face in his hands. "I promise. Both of us. And if… well, if anything goes wrong, I'll make sure you can get home…"

Rose caught at his hands, locking her fingers tightly around his wrists. "Don't."

The Doctor hesitated for a moment, looking into her face with an indescribable expression. Even after all this time, there were moments when even Rose couldn't decipher his looks. She only knew that it couldn't be good.

He let go of her face abruptly. "Right then, you ready for this?"

"As I'll ever be." Rose shook her arms and legs out self-consciously. "I knew I should have joined that gym."

The Doctor grinned and then the lights dipped again. "Right, here we go!"

As soon as the lights came back up, the Doctor scanned the screen, and within seconds was setting off down the passageway they were in at top speed. Rose ran after him, trying to keep pace with his loping stride. After a few turns, she loosened her grip on his hand to try and make it easier on herself and on him.

The Doctor glanced sideways as he felt her hand slip.

"I'm fine, keep going!" Rose panted as they darted around another corner. She kept close on his heels, all the time conscious of her almost instinctive internal clock ticking away. It felt like they'd been running for far longer than three minutes, she felt sure that they were being too slow. They didn't seem to be getting anywhere. They'd turned back on themselves so many times she wouldn't be at all surprised if they were back where they'd started.

Then, like a watering hole in the desert, an open wall loomed before them. Rose gave a sharp intake of breath.

"Told you!" The Doctor forced out between ragged breaths. "Come on, we've only got a few more seconds!"

Rose could feel her knees beginning to tremble and her speed falter, but she dug down deep to try and find the energy for a sprint finish. The gap between her and the Doctor was widening step by step, as he lengthened his stride and Rose felt her own legs begin to tighten and her steps get shorter. Desperately, she tried to push on, feeling the seconds slipping away. She saw the Doctor pass through the gap in the wall, coming to a standstill almost straight away, and then turning round.

"Rose!" he shouted as she neared him. "Rose, you've only got a few more seconds!"

Too exhausted to reply, Rose tried to power herself along over the last few yards. In the last few strides, her body gave up though. She felt the darkness creep over her before she saw it and the last thing she heard was the Doctor's desperate howling of her name.

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE!"

* * *

_**Next time: Tempers**_

_Whilst Ianto investigated the tourist information, a sign on the noticeboard caught Jack's eye. It was clearly recent, as it was pinned on top of several other notices, but wasn't brand new; the edges had curled and it looked generally sorry for itself in the sauna like atmosphere of the office. The words were printed in red capital letters; the ink had smudged slightly in the bottom left-hand corner._

_THE BUILDING SITE IS __**STRICTLY OUT OF BOUNDS**__ FOR GUESTS._

_PLEASE KEEP CHILDREN OUT._

_THIS IS FOR SAFETY REASONS._

_THANK YOU._


End file.
